Suite Life of Zack, Cody and Lola
by youre-never-too-old-for-disney
Summary: After several years on the road, Carey Martin finally lands a long-term job singing in the lounge at the Boston Tipton Hotel, and gets her own room, suite 2330, to stay in. She moves in with her triplets, Zack, Cody and Lola, and it doesn't take them long until everyone in the hotel knows them as troublemakers. [DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN ANYTHING EXCEPT MY OC, LOLA!]
1. 1 Hotel Hangout

**Hey guys! Some of you may have seen this story on Quotev by .JustLucy, well... that's me! And I've decided to transfer this story onto here, because frankly, I was getting fed up of using one fanfic site all the time. So, if you've read this story already on Quotev, thank you for reading it here! And if you're new to this story completely, I also thank you for taking the time to read it! Enjoy!**

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*Lola's P.O.V*

"Mom!" I exclaimed, as me and my triplet brothers, Zack and Cody followed her into the lobby of the Tipton Hotel, A.K.A, our new home. "Why can't you drive us to the playground?" I whined. Mom bent down to my height.

"Because I have to rehearse the choreography for my next show. Mr. Moseby thinks I need some younger moves." She stood up straight again and demonstrated her current "moves". Me and my brothers just watched in horror. "What do you think?" Mom asked us.

"I think you should never do that in public." Zack said.

"Or in private." Cody added. I nodded in agreement.

"Why don't you guys invite over some friends from school?" Mom suggested.

"That's a great idea!" Cody said.

"Too bad we don't have any!" Zack said.

"Nobody ever likes the new kids." I frowned.

"C'mere." Mom walked over, put one arm around Cody, and stretched the other one around both me and Zack. "You'll make friends soon." She said, kissing our foreheads, "We're here to stay now."

"No if you use those moves." I said, and starting imitating Mom's terrible dance moves. I accidentally backed into the table in the middle of the room, knocking off the expensive vase on top. Luckily, Esteban the bellboy, leaped forward and caught the vase.

"Impressive catch, Esteban!" The hotel manager, Mr. Moseby said, walking over.

"If you thought that was impressive, Mr. Moseby, watch this," He tossed the vase in the air, causing all of us to gasp in fear of him dropping it, but he caught it perfectly. He then put it to his ear and smiled. "I can hear the ocean!"

"Let me hear! Let me hear!" Me, Zack and Cody yelled in unison, fighting to grab it from Esteban.

Moseby then yelled at us because Zack almost dropped the vase again, so he shooed us away and we went to our hotel suite. We played video games until Mom came back from her rehearsal and we had to go to bed, so we had dinner and then went into our room. Sharing a room with my two brothers can be pretty annoying sometimes, but we literally don't have any more rooms. Mom's already sleeping on the couch.

I grabbed some pyjamas and ran into the bathroom, where I usually get dressed and undressed. I mean, I'm a twelve year-old girl, changing in front of my brothers is just uncomfortable and weird. And sometimes I just need my privacy.

Once I was done, I went back into our room and got into bed.

"Goodnight, Zack. Goodnight, Cody." I said, snuggling down under the covers.

"Night, Lola." They said in unison. I heard them say goodnight to each other, before I drifted off to sleep.

The next day, my brothers and I got to school to meet our huge group of friends...not.

"Cody, Lola, check it out! It's the Drew Crew!" Zack said, as the "Drew Crew" walked passed. "Yo Drew, whaddup dog?" He said, holding his hand up for a high five, only to get rejected. The Drew Crew turned around and laughed at us.

"Hey look, it's The Clones and their Bimbo." Drew said. I felt a wave of anger wash over me and was so desperate to tackle Drew to the ground. Some sort of triplet telepathy thing must've happened, because Cody grabbed my wrist as if he knew exactly what I was about to do. He probably did know what I was about to do, since everyone knows I hate when people imply I'm a dumb blonde, or tell me what I can and can't do just because I'm a girl.

"Did you hear that?!" Zack turned to us excitedly as The Drew Crew walked away, "The Drew Crew just mocked us!"

"Woohoo, we're in." Cody said sarcastically. He threw his arms in the air for effect, dropping my wrist as he did so.

"Yeah, and they're going to be in hospital if they call me a bimbo one more time." I said through gritted teeth, glaring holes into Drew's back as he continued to walk with his gang.

Then a girl and a boy walked up to us. The boy was tall with frizzy hair, and the girl was the same height as us and had a baseball cap on her head. She was obviously a tomboy.

"The Drew Crew will never accept you. Don't beat your head against a wall." The girl said.

"Even though it feels good sometimes." The boy said. The girl glared at him, while me, Zack and Cody shared a creeped out look.

"I'm Max, by the way, and this is Tapeworm." The girl said.

"What kinda name is that?" I asked.

"The kind you get when you eat twenty hotdogs in less than two minutes." Max said. I raised my eyebrows in approval. That's pretty impressive.

"Cool! Beats my record!" Cody exclaimed.

"By eighteen." Zack said. I nodded. Then I got an idea.

"Hey, do you guys wanna come over to our house?" I offered.

"Did you hear that? Someone wants us to come over to their house!" Tapeworm said, as Max smiled excitedly. That made me smile. These guys seem nice, I don't see why other people wouldn't want to hang out with them.

After school, we took Max and Tapeworm back to The Tipton with us, as promised. Although, what we saw when we walked into our suite, wasn't promised. We opened the door, to see Mom dancing like an idiot.

"Mom!" I exclaimed in embarrassment.

"Oh!-kay..." Mom turned around, startled and flustered.

"What are you doing?!" Zack asked in horror.

"Well, apparently I'm embarrassing myself in front of your new friends... You made friends!" She literally ran towards Max and Tapeworm, causing them to cower back.

"Maybe." Max said cautiously. Mom regained her composure and so did Max and Tapeworm. "Whoa!" Max suddenly said, running over to our stereo, "This is so tight!"

"I was just rehearsing for my show..." Mom tried to say, as Max turned it on. She moved to the middle of the room and started dancing. She was really good! "Look at you go!" Mom said. Me, Zack and Cody gave Tapeworm a surprised look, to which he just nodded excitedly. We turned back to Max, to see her baseball cap had fallen off, revealing her braids. "Wow... Can you show me how you do that?" Mom asked.

"Sure." Max said happily, then started breakdancing, doing much more complicated and flexible moves.

"Okay, no, the part a Mom can actually do." Mom said when she'd finished, crouching down to Max's finishing pose.

"Oh, okay." Max said.

Max and Tapeworm stayed for a few hours and me and Max talked a lot. She's a lot like me. I mean, we're both tomboys. Tapeworm's really cool too, even though I kicked his ass at the video game we played. Unfortunately, Mom had to be a Debbie Downer and tell Max and Tapeworm to go, because it was "getting late". So they left, me and my brothers had dinner, and then went to bed.

The next day at school, me, Zack and Cody met up with Max and Tapeworm and started talking about all sorts of things. We were walking across the courtyard, when 'The Drew Crew' came by.

"Hey Clones." I rolled my eyes at his voice, as we turned around. "Is it true that you really live in the Tipton Hotel?"

"Yeah, our mom sings there." Cody said.

"And it makes your place look like a dump!" Max said.

"Yeah!" Tapeworm piped up.

"And are there really hot babes serving icecream by the pool?" Drew continued. I rolled my eyes again.

"Three flavours." Cody smirked.

"And we're talking about the girls." Zack added. I hit him in the arm, but he just ignored me.

"Maybe we'll, uh, come over and hang out." Drew said.

"You wanna hang out with us?!" Cody yelled.

"Course he does!" Zack said, hitting Cody's arm. Yet he doesn't respond when I hit him?

"You know," Drew put his arms around Zack and Cody, "I've always liked you two."

"No you didn't." Cody said as they started walking away. Zack flicked him up the head. "Ow! Quit it!" Cody whined.

I tried to follow them, but Drew turned around and stopped me.

"Sorry, we don't allow dumb blondes."

Okay. That does it.

I was about to lunge at him, as he walked away with my brothers, but Max grabbed my wrist.

"Don't. He's not worth it." She told me. I obeyed and relaxed my shoulders, but practically growled in Drew's direction.

"Fine. Do you guys want to come back to The Tipton? If you're there, you can stop me from trying to kill Drew again." I said. Max chuckled and the three of us walked out of school.

When we got to the hotel, 'The Drew Crew', plus Zack and Cody, had already arrived and were devouring the food table in the lobby. Mr. Moseby, of course, had his knickers in a twist.

"Check it out, Crew, all this stuff us free." Drew said.

"Well, free for our guests, who spend $2000 a day." Moseby said.

"Do you have any hummus?" One kid asked. I rolled my eyes, as Max and Tapeworm ran over to the food. I decided to stay back. If I'm too close to Drew, I may murder him.

"Awe, who ate all the finger sandwiches?" Tapeworm whined.

"Who invited Ringworm?" Drew sneered.

"It's Tapeworm." He corrected.

"Whatever type of worm he is, please take him and the rest of your mongrel horde upstairs and out of sight." Mr. Moseby ordered.

"C'mon guys, let's hit the pool!" Cody yelled. Everyone started cheering and ran for the pool. I sighed and followed, only because of Max and Tapeworm, who wanted to go to the pool as well.

We got there and I got changed before Max or Tapeworm, so I waited by the door for them while my brothers and the stupid 'Drew Crew' lounged in the sun chairs.

"Oh, yeah, that's it. That's the spot. Thanks, Honey. You were right, I was tense." Drew told the girl giving him a massage. I shook my head at him, even though he wasn't even looking, as a girl walked by with icecream.

"Ooh, four o'clock icecream!" Zack exclaimed.

"Like clockwork." Cody said, getting up to get icecream. I decided to leave the icecream and continue to wait for Max and Tapeworm.

"Maybe you guys aren't so lame after all." Drew said to Zack and Cody.

"Did you hear that? We're in! We're not so lame!" Zack told Cody happily.

"We've never been so popular!" Cody said. I sighed, watching them. They didn't even care about the way Drew had treated me, all they cared about was popularity.

Max and Tapeworm finally came out and ran towards the icecream tray.

"Coming through!" Max said, as Tapeworm saw the empty icecream tray and pouted.

"Awe, who ate all the icecream?"

"Too late, Earthworm." Drew said. I rolled my eyes.

"Hey, let's all go in the jacuzzi." Max suggested. Everyone ran over to the jacuzzi and jumped in, disturbing the people already there. Me, Max and Tapeworm ran over, only to find 'The Drew Crew' had taken up all the room. "Guys, move over. Make some room." Max said.

"Sorry, but the kiddie pool is over there." Drew said, causing his 'crew' to laugh. I clenched my fists. I wanted to punch him in the jaw so hard right now.

"Great, first no finger sandwiches, then no icecream, and now this." Tapeworm complained.

"C'mon, they always have extra in the cabana." I said, wanting desperately to get away from Drew and my traitors of brothers.

"Alright!" Tapeworm exclaimed, running over to the cabana.

"It better not be melted." Max mumbled as we followed him.

*Cody's P.O.V*

I watched as Lola, Max and Tapeworm went over to the cabana. I felt kinda bad about Drew excluding them, especially Lola, but Zack was okay with it, so why shouldn't I be?

"Hey y'all, let's ditch the dweebs." Drew said, motioning towards our sister and her friends. Everyone nodded and got out of the jacuzzi.

"You guys go ahead, I'll wait and tell them where we're going." I said. Zack chuckled nervously.

"Um...he's not clear on the whole 'itch' concept." Zack said. The Drew Crew ran off, while Zack turned to me with a glare. "Look, we just got passed lame, don't screw things up." He said.

"But Mom says we're not supposed to give into peer pressure." I defended.

"We're not, we're just doing what everybody else is doing." Zack said. "C'mon."

"But it'll hurt their feelings. And we can't ditch our own sister." I said.

"I'm sure she won't mind that much. They're all gonna laugh... Eventually." Zack said, before running off. I looked back at Lola, Max and Tapeworm. Maybe they won't mind that much...

The next day, we were in the lobby with The Drew Crew again, but Max and Tapeworm weren't here. I'm not sure where Lola was, I think she was in our suite.

I was talking to Zack, when Mom walked over.

"Hey guys, where are Max and Tapeworm?" She asked.

"Um, they might not be here today." I said.

"Okay, what about your sister?" She asked.

"Oh, I think Lola's in our room." Zack said.

"She's not hanging out with you guys?" Mom asked, slightly confused. I don't blame her, we usually do pretty much everything with Lola.

"I dunno, she was in a bit of a mood." Zack lied. Mom just nodded, but I couldn't help but feel bad. To be honest, I missed Lola.

"Yo, Zack, we're out of finger sandwiches." Drew ordered.

"Oh," Zack went to see to Drew, but Mom stopped him.

"Whoa, Zack, are all these kids with you?" She asked him.

"Yeah, we're part of their posse." Zack said, as we crossed our arms and tried to look cool.

"Guys, I told you to bring home a couple of friends, not the entire school!" She looked at Mr. Moseby who'd just walked in, "Moseby's gonna blow his top. Fix it." She said, walking away.

"Okay, Mom! We'll take care of it." Zack called after her, before turning to me, "You wanna tell Drew not to invite any more of his friends over?"

"No, it's okay. Yo-you can do it." I said, putting a hand on Zack's back. Zack shrugged it off.

"We probably don't have to say anything. How many more friends could he have?" Zack said, a little nervous.

"Yo, yo, guys! Over here!" Drew called, and another horde of kids ran in. Zack ran over to the kids, looking like he had an idea.

"Okay, first one to the game room gets free foosball all afternoon!" Huh, that was actually a pretty good idea.

Everyone cheered and ran for the game room, including Zack and I.

"Good turnout." Zack said when we got there and everyone started playing the games, "All the A-List kids are here."

"Yeah, but do any of them even know your name?" I asked, folding my arms.

"Yeah!" Zack said.

"Hey, Jack, give me a quarter!" One of the kids yelled.

"See? Off by one letter!" Zack exclaimed. I rolled my eyes as he gave the kid a quarter.

"Psst! Zack, Cody," We heard from the door way. We turned and saw Esteban peeking his head in, "I need to speak with you." He said, walking in properly.

"What's up, Esteban?" I asked.

"I have been given a terrible task; I have been ordered to rid the premises of children by Mr. Moseby." He explained. Me and Zack frowned. "Now, I could disobey him but Mr. Moseby reminds me of my father, who was also strict, demanding, ruthless and mean... Oh, I miss my papa so much." He started crying.

"I-It's okay." I tried to say.

"I need a moment." He said, walking to the other side of the room. He is one interesting bellboy...

"We can't ask them to leave, they're our friends!" Zack said.

"Hey, Zeke! This stupid machine keeps eating all my quarters!" That one kid yelled, banging on the machine.

"I think your friend he talking to you, Zeke." I said, putting my hands on my hips.

"You're right. We've gotta get rid of them. But how?"

"I know." I said, moving to the middle of the room, "Free foot-long grinders at the Saint Mark Hotel across the street!" I yelled. Everyone bought it and ran out of the game room.

"Excellent, I'll clear out the lobby and you get the rooftop." Zack said.

We put our hands together and yelled, "Break!" before running off.

I ran up to the pool, where some kids were in the jacuzzi.

"Hey, guys, you need to leave." I said. They looked at me, before turning back to their conversation and ignoring me. I saw some chocolate icecream on the side of the jacuzzi and picked it up, a plan hatching in my head. "Ew, gross!" I said, after I threw the icecream in the pool. It looked just like poop. The kids screamed and ran away, just as Zack ran out. He came over and looked in the pool, looking a little grossed out when he saw the icecream. "Don't ask." Was all I said. "How we doing?"

"I got rid of everybody downstairs. Except for one kid that was crying and begging to stay. Turns out his parents are actually guests here..."

Suddenly, Drew and his crew ran through with a basketball.

"Drew," I said, but he ignored me, "Drew, li- Drew, listen... Drew... Drew! We need to talk to you!" I managed to tell him.

"What?" He asked intimidatingly.

"T-Take it away, Zack." I said, stepping behind my brother.

"S-see the thing is-is we kind of need you to leave." Zack said.

"We're in the middle of a game." Drew said.

"No! That doesn't work for us," I stood right in front of Drew, "You need to leave!" Drew towered over me, and I backed away, "T-Tell him why, Zack." I said, stepping behind him again.

"Man, you guys need to chill. 'Cause if we leave, we're not coming back, and then you'll have to hang out with those two dweebs, Max and Silkworm, and that other dumb girl." He said.

I suddenly felt angry. No one calls our sister dumb.

"His name's Tapeworm, and he's our friend! And so is the other dweeb!" Zack yelled.

"Yeah! And they liked us even before they knew we had this cool place, and dainty finger sandwiches!" I piped up. "And as for the other dumb girl; She's our sister and she's not dumb! She's smarter than you'll ever be!" I continued.

"That's right! And then you made us ditch them!" Zack said, "So you know what? Now we're ditching you! Give me back the ball!"

"Fine here," Zack went to take the ball from Drew, but Drew laughed and threw it behind him, causing it to hit the satellite dish. Mine and Zack's jaws dropped as the wires undid. This is bad, this is really bad!

*Lola's P.O.V*

I'd been in our suite all day with Max and Tapeworm, since my brothers are no longer my friends.

"You know, it was one thing for Zack and Cody to ditch us, but their own sister?!" Max said, trying to make me feel better. It wasn't really working. "You know what? They are not getting away with this. C'mon, let's go up to the pool and give them a piece of our minds!" She continued.

"Yeah!" Tapeworm yelled. I sighed.

"Fine, let's go." I said. To be honest, I kinda did want to tell them off. I left the suite with Max and Tapeworm and we took the elevator up to the pool.

"...And then you'll have to hang out with those two dweebs, Max and Tapeworm, and that other dumb girl." We heard Drew say. I was about to go out there and slap him silly, but what Zack and Cody said stopped me.

"His name's Tapeworm, and he's our friend! And so is the other dweeb!" Zack said.

"Yeah! And they liked us even before they knew we had this cool place and dainty finger sandwiches!" Cody piped up. "And as for the other dumb girl; She's our sister and she's not dumb! She's smarter than you'll ever be!" I couldn't help but smile as he defended me.

"That's right! And then you made us ditch them!" Zack said, "So you know what? Now we're ditching you! Give me back the ball!"

"Fine, here." Drew huffed. Zack was about to take the ball back, but Drew laughed and threw it behind him, making it hit the satellite dish as he walked away with his crew. My eyes widened as the wires started to undo.

"I can't believe we broke the hotel!" Zack said, as he and Cody held onto the cord that was keeping the satellite dish from hitting the ground. That's when me, Max and Tapeworm decided to go out there.

"Looks like you guys could use some help." I said, crossing my arms and standing in front of my brothers.

"What are you guys doing here?" Zack asked.

"Well, we came to tell you off," Tapeworm began.

"But lucky for you, we overhead you defending us dweebs." Max finished.

"Sorry we ditched ya." Zack said.

"So, we're friends again?" Cody asked hopefully.

"We'll have to think about it." Max said.

"Whoa!" Zack and Cody lost their grip a little and the cord began falling, pulling the boys back with it and making them hit the wall.

"Well, could you think fast? 'Cause I think I just caught a bus!" Zack said.

"Okay." Max and Tapeworm said in unison, going to help. I grabbed the cord too, but that didn't mean I'd forgiven them yet.

"What did you do?!" A voice yelled from behind us. Me, Zack and Cody exchanged a look.

"Mom!" We said in unison, letting go of the cord.

"I am surprised at you three, and you two too!" Mom said to all of us.

"They didn't do it!" Zack said, "And neither did Lola."

"They were the only three who stayed to help!" Cody said, "Speaking of which, we're really sorry about letting Drew treat you like that, Lola."

"Yeah, nobody gets to insult you but us." Zack said. I rolled my eyes playfully.

"Apology accepted." I told my brothers, a smile forming on my lips.

"Guys!" Max spoke up.

"Come on!" She and Tapeworm whined. Me, my brothers and Mom quickly took action and grabbed the cord.

"It wasn't us!" Zack said, as we pulled, "It was that kid, Drew!" He explained to Mom, "I told you he was no good!" He told Cody.

"You said nothing!" Cody said, as we continued to pull.

"I don't care who did it," Mom began, "Pull!... It's still your responsibility...Pull!...When I told you this hotel is your home, I meant you should treat it with respect... Pull!"

"Sorry, I guess I messed up." Zack said.

"Zack's right... He messed up." Cody said. Zack turned around and gave him a look. "Pull!" Cody just yelled in his face. We all pulled, until the icecream girl passed us.

"Ooh, four o'clock icecream!" Tapeworm said. We all let go of the cord and ran for the icecream.

"Guys!" Mom said, but we ignored her as we got our icecream, "Guys! Oh, come on, help!" She yelled, before mumbling, "Oh man, I picked the wrong day to wear heels..."

After a lot of heaving, we got the satellite dish back up and Zack and Cody got their punishment. And let me tell you; it was the best punishment ever! Well, for me, not so much for them. They had to clean the pool with toothbrushes, and be my personal slaves for a week!

Right now, me, Max and Tapeworm where lounging on the sun chairs while Zack and Cody cleaned the pool.

"You know, Moseby, you run a nice place around here." Max told Mr. Moseby, who was stood beside the chairs, probably making sure Zack and Cody did the job.

"Thanks son-"

"I'm a girl." She interrupted him. I stifled a giggle. Then Zack and Cody walked into the shallow end of the pool, which was nearest to us.

"This is the worst punishment we ever got!" Cody whined.

"I think we scrubbed every single tile." Zack said, breathing heavily with exhaustion.

"I can't uncurl my fingers..." Cody said, pulling the toothbrush out of his own hand. I smirked. This was certainly the best revenge I could've gotten.

"Hey, Max! Max, I finally learned that move." Mom said, coming out to the pool with a boombox. She turned it on, and started dancing. I cringed, especially when Max joined in.

"I don't know her." Cody said, putting his goggles back on.

"Neither do I." Zack said, doing the same. The two of them got back in the pool.

"I'm with them!" I said, getting up and jumping in the pool.


	2. 2 Fairest Of Them All

*Lola's P.O.V*

"Mom! Please!" My brothers and I whined as we followed Mom into the hotel. We wanted new bikes, but Mom wouldn't let us.

"Guys, what's wrong with your old bikes? They're still perfectly good." Mom said.

"Mom, they're tricycles." Zack said.

"Guys, I'm sorry, but we can't afford bikes right now." Mom told us, "I mean, it's that or food." Me and the boys looked at each other hopefully. "No, forget I gave you that option." She quickly said, before walking away.

"Great, now we're stuck here with nothing to do." Zack complained. I noticed Cody staring at the hotel entrance in amazement. I turned around and saw a load of girls walking in, as Zack continued to make a fuss, "I mean, this is probably the most boring hotel in the history of boring hotels."

Knowing all the girls would shut him up, me and Cody grabbed him and spun him round.

"Oh Zack!" Cody said. Zack's face lit up like a lamp and his jaw dropped.

"I love this hotel!" He yelled. The two boys watched in awe, as the girls piled into the hotel. I was a little confused as to why they were even here, but then I remembered there was some beauty pageant being held here. "Wow, it's like Christmas!" Zack said.

"I'm sweating in places I've never sweated before." Cody told us. I scrunched my face up in disgust. I found all of this quite pathetic. The beauty pageant and the way my brothers were acting.

"Alright! Moseby booked a beauty pageant!" Zack said.

"I wish we could just go up and talk to them." Cody said.

"Hello! We can!" Zack told him, before gently hitting Cody's chest, "Watch and learn, little brother." I rolled my eyes as Zack walked over to one of the girls. "So, if I guess your name do I win a kiss?" He asked her, giving her a flirty smile.

"Awh, you're so adorable!" She grinned, pinching Zack's cheek, before her facial expression turned to an annoyed one, "And so completely out of your league." She then walked away, proving my point that almost all beauty pageant girls are spoilt snobs.

"Smooth." Cody said sarcastically as we walked over to Zack.

"You guys are almost as pathetic as the beauty pageant." I said, crossing my arms over my chest, "I mean, I wouldn't be caught dead flouncing around a runway in some stupid, frilly little dress, with my face caked in buckets and buckets of makeup." I went on.

"Not even if there was a really cute guy in the audience?" Cody asked me.

"No, not even then. It's honestly stupid how you two are acting so giddy, just because of a few girls, who may have pretty faces, but are probably super shallow. I would never act like that just because of a boy. Nope, never, not in a million years, no sir..." I kept going on and on. I decided I wanted some candy, so I took a step back, about to turn and walk over to Maddie's candy counter, but accidentally walked into someone as I stepped back.

"Oh, I-" I spun around, my eyes landing on the boy I bumped into. He looked a bit older than me, like fourteen-ish, with soft brown hair and brown eyes. Oh my god, he was cute.

"Sorry for bumping into you, are you alright?" He asked me.

"Y-yeah, I-I-I...um...uh...eh...I..."

"What was that about not acting stupid because of a boy?" Zack muttered in my ear, so the boy wouldn't hear. I gave my triplet a glare, as I regained my posture and tried to speak normally.

"I'm, uh, I'm fine. It was my fault, really. Sorry." I tried to say without stuttering.

"Don't sweat it." He chuckled, giving me a smile which made me melt inside, "I'm Nick, by the way."

"I-I'm, um, my name's..." Wow. I've actually forgotten my own name.

"Lola." Zack said to me slowly, as if talking to a four year old.

"Right, Lola. My name is Lola." I said to Nick. He chuckled again.

"C'mon, Cody, let's leave before she starts drooling." I heard Zack quietly say. I ignored him and looked back at Nick.

"So, Lola, are you here for the beauty pageant?" He asked me.

"Oh, god, no. Me and my brothers live here." I told him.

"Here? As in, in the hotel?"

"Yep."

"That's so cool." Nick said.

"I guess so." I shrugged, finally having a normal conversation with him without stammering, "What about you? Are you here for the beauty pageant?" I raised an eyebrow and smirked slightly.

"Haha." Nick said sarcastically, smiling playfully. "No, I'm actually here with my aunt and cousin, Rebecca, who is entering the pageant. My parents are out of the town for the weekend, so I have to stay with them." He explained. I nodded, understanding.

"Nick!" A woman said, walking up behind Nick, "Come help me take the bags up to our room. Rebecca will be here in a sec, she's getting the rest of her stuff from the car."

"And that's my cue." Nick said to me, causing a small giggle to escape my lips. Yes, me, giggling. I never giggle. "I'll see you around, Lola."

"Y-you too." Dammit, the stuttering's back! Nick gave me another heart-melting smile before walking away to help who I presume is his aunt. Once he left, I looked around and saw my brothers by the stairs near the entrance. Cody was sat on the railing and Zack was stood on one of the steps.

"Finished making googly eyes at that guy, Miss. 'I-would-never-act-stupid-because-of-a-boy'?" Zack mocked me as I walked over. I rolled my eyes.

"I was not acting like that because I thought he was cute or anything, I just...lost my train of thought." I fibbed, my eyes darting from side to side.

"Riiight, and I suppose you forgetting your own name had nothing to do with him either." Cody said, raising his eyebrows and folding his arms, as he jumped down from the railing.

"Shut up." I mumbled, crossing my own arms in a stubborn manner. "And, for your information, 'that guy's name is Nick." Both my brothers just rolled their eyes, as some girls walked passed and caught Zack's attention. Typical.

"So, you like video games?" He didn't get much of a response as the girls just walked away faster. "There was no connection." He tried to tell Cody and I. I rolled my eyes. As you may have noticed, I roll my eyes a lot around my brothers. "Ooh, but I think Mini Miss Rhode Island is making eyes at me." He smirked, running over to the one of the other contestants.

"None of them have even noticed me." Cody sighed. I was about to try and make him feel better, when a girl walked through the front door and bumped into Cody as she walked down the steps, causing her to drop her bag. I watched from a few feet away as they stared at each other, the girl smiling and Cody looking completely awestruck. Looks like I'm not the only one who's found a crush.

"Hi." The girl finally said. Cody started making incoherent sounds. "I'm sorry, I don't speak Vietnamese." She apologised. I stifled my laughter.

"Uh, er... I meant, do you need some help with your bags?" He managed to say normally, picking up her bag.

"That's really nice of you, but I'm not supposed to talk to strangers." The girl said as nicely as she could.

"It's okay, I'm not that strange. Except for when I get really nervous, I can't stop talking. Which is odd because I'm aware of it and you'd think I'd know better, but for some strange reason-"

"Alrighty, then." She cut Cody's ramble off, taking her bag from him and walking away. Cody watched her walk away, as Zack walked down the steps looking disappointed. I moved closer to them so I was stood next to Zack, since I'd stepped back to give Cody his space while he talked -or rambled so quickly it wasn't even understandable- to that girl.

"Okay, this thing is a total washout. The girls are all stuck up, phony-"

"Don't talk about her like that!" Cody cut him off, "She's sweet, and she's pure, and everything that's good about life." Cody stared at her dreamily, as she checked in at the front desk.

"Cody, you just met her." I said.

"And yet, I know all I need to know about her." He said, not looking away from the girl.

"Oh yeah? What's her name?" Zack asked. Cody groaned, burying his face in his hands. He looked up and ran over to the girls, with me and Zack following, only to be stopped by Mr. Moseby.

"Not so fast!" He told us, "Now, these young ladies are here for a very important competition, which happens to bring in a lot of money to this hotel. They did not come here to be harassed by Tweedledum and Tweedledumber."

"You better stop right there if you want to keep that nice little pocket hanky of yours." I said, placing my hands on my hips, before Mr. Moseby could insult me. He just made a face.

"But I have to talk to what's-her-name." Cody said, trying to see past Mr. Moseby.

"Nope, nope, nope, nip, nin." Mr. Moseby made a series of weird sounds, before saying "There will be no fraternising with the contestants, or I will have your mother confine you to your hotel suite. Now, these people are here as our guests; we must treat them like royalty." Just as Moseby said that, a woman who I'd seen speaking to him earlier, walked over with a box of some sort.

"Maryann, where can I dump my portapotty?" She asked. Me and my brothers stepped back, covering our mouths at the grossness of that sentence. And that box thing.

"If you'll excuse me, I have to help the queen...with her throne." Mr. Moseby said, clearly as grossed out as we were, but trying to hide it. The woman smiled and handed him the box. I almost gagged at the thought of touching that thing. Moseby took it and walked away, holding it as far away from himself as possible.

It wasn't long before the beauty pageant started, and Cody dragged Zack and I backstage so he could see 'what's-her-name' again and give her some flowers. I didn't really mind, as I was kinda hoping to see Nick again.

"How much longer do we have to wait here?" Zack whined.

"Until what's-her-name comes out and I can give her these." Cody said, holding up the flowers.

"Good day." I faintly heard Moseby.

"Uh-oh, Moseby alert!" Zack said.

"Oh no! He's gonna see us fraternizing!" Cody panicked, hiding his face with the flowers. And I thought Zack was supposed to be the dumb one.

"What are you, five?" I asked Cody. "Quick, we can hide in here." I grabbed both of their wrists and pulled them into the dressing room, where we hid behind a rack of dresses.

"Oh, Tyreesha, in this dress you are bound to win." A woman said to her daughter.

"No! I quit! I'm sick of beauty pageants, I'm going to science camp!" The girl shouted, snatching the dress and throwing it down before storming off.

"Where did I go wrong?" The mother asked herself. "Tyreesha!"

"There she is!" Cody said, looking at a girl; the same girl he bumped into. He climbed out from behind the dress rack and began walking towards her.

"What are you doing?!" Me and Zack whisper-yelled after him.

"Oh, ladies. Knock knock, man in the house." We heard Mr. Moseby as he walked in. Cody panicked and grabbed a wig, throwing it on his head. He sat on one of the chairs and covered himself with a dress. What is he doing?!

"Come on in, we're decent." One of the mothers said.

"Splendid, splendid." Moseby said, walking in.

"You know," Said one of the women, who's shirt read 'Brianna's Mom', "These rose-colored candies are horrible."

"That's soap, Madam." Moseby said.

"Well, then they're pretty dang good." She said. Then the woman in charge of the whole thing walked in.

"Almost showtime, girls. Come on, come on, come on, my little beauties, come on!" She turned around, seeing Cody who still had the wig on and was holding the dress over himself. "Young lady, why aren't you in your dress?!"

"Uh..."

"Number eleven..." She looked at the tag on his dress, "You're in the first group!" She then looked closer, "Is that a hair on your lip?"

"I hope so!" Cody gasped, looking in the mirror beside his chair.

"We'll just pull that right out." She said, grabbing a pair of tweezers.

"No! Come on! That's my only one!" Cody whined, backing away from her. Eventually, she won and plucked the hair, much to Cody's dismay. They both finally left, and Zack and I came out from behind the rack of dresses, since no one was here any more.

"What are we gonna do?" I panicked, "She thought Cody was one of the contestants!"

"Okay, okay, relax... Cody's smart, right? I'm sure he'll find a way out of this." Zack said, but was probably trying to convince himself more than me. "Come on, let's just try and find him." He decided. I nodded and we ran out of the room.

After running for a while, we finally came across the ballroom, where the pageant was being held. As we ran in, we saw Cody up on the stage. Yes, Cody, going up and down the runway wearing a wig, dress and high heels.

"Tyreesha enjoys marine biology, double dutch, and her hero is George Washington." The host guy said.

"He's out of his mind!" Zack exclaimed. I was about to completely agree, when I saw the sign next to us and my eyes widened. I nudged Zack and pointed towards the sign. "£2,000?! He's a genius!" He yelled.

"Yay, Tyreesha!" I shouted, jumping excitedly.

"You go, girl!" Zack added. I was so busy cheering "Tyreesha" on, that I didn't hear someone walk up behind me, until I heard their voice.

"Lola?" I spun round and instantly smiled when I saw Nick.

"Oh, hey Nick." I said casually.

"What are you doing here?" He asked.

"Oh, I'm here because..." I paused, trying to think of an excuse. I mean, I couldn't really say 'Oh, my brother is pretending to be a contestant so we can win money for bikes'. "My sister is a contestant." Why did it take me so long to come up with that?

"I thought you said you were only here because you lived at the hotel?" Nick said.

"I- uh, I know, I do, but my sister, Tyreesha, decided to enter at the last minute." I lied. Nick nodded, clearly buying it.

"Is that her up there?" He asked, looking up at the stage. I cringed as Cody tripped and awkwardly walked all over the runway.

"Yep, that's my sis." I said, trying to hide my grimace.

"Okay, well, I better go. I told Rebecca I'd meet her backstage right about now." Nick said, looking at his watch. I nodded.

"Okay, I'll see you around." I said.

"Ditto." He said, winking at me, before walking away. I found myself smiling dreamily. He just winked at me. Well, either that or he had something in his eye... Oh well, I'm gonna go with him winking at me.

"Hello? Earth to Lola?" I suddenly noticed Zack waving his hand in front of my face.

"Huh?" I mumbled, looking at him.

"Cody's just finished, so we need to meet him backstage. Come on!" He said, grabbing my wrist and pulling me along. We ran back through the halls until we got to the dressing room. "Hello, ladies." Zack said, walking over to Cody and the girl he likes. I noticed how the tag on the girl's dress said Rebecca. I wonder if she's Nick's cousin?

"Rebecca, you remember my sister, Lola and my brother, Cody?" Cody said. Wait, did he just call Zack, Cody?

"Huh?" Zack asked, just as confused as I was.

"Cody. You're Cody." Cody said through gritted teeth.

"Thanks for the flowers." Rebecca said sweetly.

"Right, because I'm Cody, the one who sent you the flowers." Zack said, trying to act as Cody. Emphasis on trying.

"Rebecca!" I heard someone say. I turned around and saw Nick running in. Huh, so she is his cousin. "Oh, hi, Lola. Again." He said as he saw me.

"Hiya." I smiled, as he turned back to Rebecca.

"You did great tonight." He began.

"Thanks." She smiled at her cousin.

"Your welcome. Anyway... Your Mom's in another cat fight..." He trailed off awkwardly.

"My daughter is twice as pretty as your daughter!" I heard a woman say in the background.

"Aah! You bit me!"

"Oh great. I better go hold her earrings." Rebecca sighed, walking over to the women.

"I should go help too. See you later, Lola." Nick smiled at me.

"Yeah." I said, as he left.

"Wait, so the guy you like is cousins with the girl I like?" Cody asked me.

"Yeah, I guess so." I said.

"Okay, okay, enough girl talk." Zack butted in, "Dude, you were so hot out there. You have a chance to win the prize money!" He told Cody.

"No way!" Cody argued, "I'm not doing it! These heels are killing me and my pantyhose are riding up!" He complained. Okay, ew.

"Who cares about your female problems?! Think about the money!" Zack said.

"Think about the bikes!" I added.

"You can't drop out of this pageant!" Zack continued.

"Forget it!" Cody yelled. Then Rebecca came back and put a hand on Cody's shoulder, turning him around.

"They're right. You can't leave. This pageant is like a shark tank." She took Cody's hand, "I need you to help me get through this." Cody looked at us, then back at Rebecca.

"I'm in!" Cody giggled in his girly voice. Me and Zack fist pumped and did a little victory dance.

"Hug!" Rebecca exclaimed, opening her arms. Cody opened his arms too, but Zack hugged him before Rebecca could. I saw the uncomfortable look on Rebecca's face and chuckled nervously.

"Um, they have a very special relationship." I told her awkwardly.

Later that night, me and the boys were back in our suite while Cody was converting himself back into a dude.

"Boy, eyeshadow is tough to get off!" Cody exclaimed, walking in wearing a bathrobe and wiping his makeup off with a towel.

"'Cause you used to much." I said matter-of-factly.

"Which, by the way, makes you look a little cheap." Zack chimed in, as he got "Tyreesha"'s outfit ready for the next pageant, while I just sat on the couch, on my computer. "Now, I have a great idea for the talent competition," He continued, just as the phone rang. I put my laptop aside and got up to answer it.

"Hello?" I said into the phone.

"Hey, Lola, it's Rebecca." The voice of Rebecca spoke.

"Oh, hi, Rebecca." I said, grabbing Cody's attention.

"Is Tyreesha there?" She asked, as Cody ran over and tried to take the phone from me.

"Give me that." He muttered, as I held it out and called for "Tyreesha".

"Oh, Reesha!"

I finally handed the phone to Cody and he sat on the edge of the coffee table.

"Oh, hi, Rebecca. Sorry to keep you waiting, but I have to work overtime to look as good as you do." Cody is in his girl voice, with a weird little giggle. I shook my head, going back to my computer. I could faintly hear Rebecca's voice through the phone, but took no notice. That is, until Cody said, "A slumber party?"

Zack immediately dropped the pink jacket he was holding and looked at Cody, "No! Absolutely not! I'm putting my foot down!" He said sternly.

Cody gave Zack one glance before saying, "I'll be there!" and hanging up.

"Clearly you do not understand the 'foot down' concept!" Zack said.

"Hey, this is the only way I can be with Rebecca and I'm taking it." Cody said, putting the phone down and walking over to Zack. I also put my laptop down and walked over to them.

"Well, you're going to blow our cover and our chance to get new bikes!" Zack went on.

"I agree with Zack on this one." I said, "You can't risk blowing your cover when we're so close to winning."

"Tyreesha can do it." Cody said.

"No, Tyreesha can't!" Zack said, mimicking Cody's girl voice.

"Who's Tyreesha?" Mom asked, walking in through the front door. I panicked slightly and helped Cody hide the dress under the cushions, as the three of us sat on the couch.

"Um, the new weather girl on TV." I said, thinking on the spot.

"She's always wrong." Cody explained, "40% humidity? I don't think so!"

Mom walked over and looked at the blank TV screen, "The TV's not on."

"Yeah, that's 'cause we turned it off. We're sick of her lies!" Zack said.

"Okay... What do you guys have planned for tonight?" Mom asked as she walked over to the kitchen.

"Um, I'm sleeping over at Tapeworm's." Cody told her, as we got up and followed her some of the way.

"And you two aren't?" She frowned, looking at Zack and I.

"Uh, no we had a fight." Zack told her.

"You guys and Tapeworm?"

"Me, Zack and Lola." Cody said.

"Are you wearing lipstick?" Mom bent down to get a closer look at Cody's face.

"That's what the fight was about." I jumped in. Wow, I am on a roll with these excuses!

"Yeah, uh, me and Lola put lipstick on him while he was taking a nap." Zack explained.

"That wasn't very nice," Mom pointed at me and Zack, "And that's not your shade." She pointed at Cody, before walking away.

"I told you!" Zack said, earning a glare from Cody.

After Cody left for the slumber party, me and Zack sat on the couch watching TV. We were watching some cartoon, when the phone rang again.

"I'll get it." I told Zack, getting up and walking over to answer the phone. "Hello?" I said into the receiver.

"Hey, Lola, it's Nick."

"Oh, hey, Nick." I said, going into our room for a bit more privacy.

"Hey, listen, the pageant ends tomorrow which means it's my last day in Boston and I was wondering if you wanted to go out before I leave?"

"Go out? As in, like, on a d-date?"

"Uh, yeah...what do you say?"

"I'd love to!"

"Really? Awesome! How about tomorrow evening, just before the pageant starts?"

"Sounds good to me."

"Great. I gotta go now, so I'll see you tomorrow. Bye."

"Bye."

As soon as the line went dead, I let out a huge squeal. I then went back into the living room and put the phone back on it's stand.

"Did you just squeal?" Zack asked, looking at me. I just grinned, sitting down on the couch. "But, you never squeal. You yell. Mostly at me and Cody..."

"Well, I guess some things change." I said with a shrug, a smile on my face.

"Okay, what happened on the phone?"

"Oh nothing much... Well, except that Nick asked me out on a date!" I said with yet another squeal. Zack flinched at the noise.

"You're going on a date?" Zack asked incredulously.

"Yep." I chirped.

"But...but...I'm the supposed to be the first one to go on a date out of us three." Zack stuttered, referring to him, Cody and myself.

"Well, sorry, Zackie, but looks like I'm the first one to go on a date." I said, standing up and skipping into our room.

"Did you just call me Zackie?!"

*Cody's P.O.V*

I arrived at Brianna's suite and her mom opened the door.

"Oh, look, girls, it's little Tyreeta." She said as I walked in.

"Tyreesha." I corrected her.

"Like it matters." She replied. I rolled my eyes. "Oh, honey, there's a tray out there with half a steak on it, I'll be right back." I heard Brianna's mom say as I sat down with Rebecca.

"You're just in time! We're playing 'What Do You Wanna Be When You Grow Up'." Rebecca told me.

"Okay! Me next!" Brianna said, climbing onto the armchair. "A supermodel!" She exclaimed, doing a pose.

"Tyreesha, what do you wanna be?" Rebecca asked me.

"Oh, I'm gonna be a hockey player." I said casually, but for some reason everyone looked at me weirdly. Wait, oh yeah, I'm supposed to be a girl... "O-or a princess, whichever pays better." I quickly added, and everyone smiled and nodded, taking that answer more seriously. "And Rebecca?" I asked.

"I wanna open a free animal hospital for underprivileged pets." She replied.

"I think that's beautiful." I said, earning a gorgeous smile from Rebecca.

"Thanks. I need to start saving for vet school now. That's the only reason why I'm doing the pageant." She explained, whispering the last bit. "What about you?"

"Oh, I'm doing it to buy some bikes." Shoot, I probably shouldn't have said that... "For underprivileged pets!" I said with the cutest smile I could muster.

"Aww, that's so sweet! It's so great that we can do this together!" She said.

"Hug!" I grinned, opening my arms. Rebecca smiled and hugged me. Yes! I finally got a hug from her!

"So, what do your brother and sister think about you being in the pageant?" Rebecca asked me.

"Oh, uh, they're okay with it." I said. "What about your cousin?"

"Yeah, he's alright with it. Although, he doesn't really help out much, since he's always on the phone to his girlfriend." She told me, rolling her eyes.

"Wait, he has a girlfriend?" I asked.

"Yep. They've been together for a while now." She said. Uh oh, this is bad... Lola really likes Nick, and he has a girlfriend? How am I gonna tell her?

I was snapped out of my thoughts when the doorbell rang.

"Be right there!" Brianna called.

"Don't bother, darlings. I own the place." Uh oh. That's London's voice.

"London!" I yelped quietly, crawling inside my sleeping bag and hiding there.

"I got the candy counter girl to bring us some snacks." I heard London say.

I then heard Maddie's voice, "Thank you for introducing me, but I do have an actual name. It's Maddie."

"London, what did you wanna be when you were little?" I heard one of the girls ask.

"I wanted to be an heiress. And I did it. Yay me!" London said, and then I heard a round of applause.

"You must be so proud. It takes a special kind of person to be born rich." Maddie said.

"Thank you!" London replied.

"What are you doing in there?" I heard Rebecca ask, tugging on my sleeping bag.

"Uh, putting on night cream. It has to be applied in the dark." I told her. I hated lying to her, but what was I supposed to say?

"You know girls, pageants have their place, but looks aren't everything." Maddie spoke up again, "I mean, there's education, and reading, museums, becoming a well-rounded person."

The girls and London just ignored Maddie and started talking about Orlando Bloom.

"Orlando Bloom likes smart girls. I know he does. I just know it!" I heard Maddie say, and then I think I heard her leave. London started talking again, but by then I'd started trying to escape. It was kinda difficult, since I was still inside the sleeping bag and bumped into a few things on the way, but eventually I managed to slither out of the room.

*Lola's P.O.V*

The next morning, I woke up bright and early, before either of my brothers. I got out of bed and grabbed some clothes, before going into the bathroom to change. When I went back into my room, I saw that Zack and Cody had woken up.

"Good morning." I chirped, going over to make my bed; something I rarely do. "Isn't it a lovely day?" I said. My phone went off and I opened it to see a text from Nick,

TO: Lola

FROM: Nick

Can't wait for 2night ;)

I let out a squeal as I read the text, earning weird looks from my brothers.

"Did she just squeal?" Cody asked.

"I know, it's weird, right?" Zack replied.

"Nick just texted me!" I practically sang, "He says he can't wait for our date tonight... He's so sweet!"

*Cody's P.O.V*

She has a date with him?! Yesterday they were just talking, and now they're going on dates?! Okay, I need to tell her about Nick's girlfriend before it gets any worse.

"You're going on a date with Nick?" I asked.

"Yep." She grinned. Wow, I've never seen her this happy...

"Are...are you sure that's such a good idea?"

"Of course! I mean, Nick is sweet, and kind, and caring..." She sighed dreamily. I rolled my eyes.

"Look, Lola, there's something you need to know about Nick," I began.

"Not now, Cody, I need to pick out my outfit for the date." She told me. Ugh, how can I tell her? She seems so happy! You can always tell when Lola's really happy, because she starts acting all girly. Squealing, talking about boys, talking about clothes... All the things she's doing right now.

"No, Lola, you really need to listen-"

"Not now, Cody! I need to find the perfect outfit but I have no idea what the perfect outfit is!" She complained. "Ooh, maybe Maddie could help me!" And with that, she left.

"What was that all about?" Zack asked me.

"What was what all about?"

"What were you trying to tell Lola?" He asked.

"Oh, uh, just something about Nick." I said.

"What about him?" He questioned. I sighed.

"Well, he kind of has a girlfriend, and it's not Lola." I told him.

"What?" Zack looked shocked, with a hint of anger.

"Yeah... I know I should've told her, but she was so happy! I mean, did you see how girly she was acting?!" I said.

"Well, we need to tell her before her date starts!" Zack said, jumping out of bed since we hadn't gotten up yet. We both quickly got dressed and ran out of the room. We said a quick "good morning" as we passed Mom, before leaving the suite and took the elevator to the lobby. As we got there, was saw Lola in front of the couch that Nick was sitting on, pouring water over his head...

*Lola's P.O.V*

I left the suite and took the elevator down to the lobby, instantly going over to the candy counter.

"Hey, Maddie." I said happily.

"Hey, Lola, what can I get you?" She asked me.

"Actually, it's not what you can get me, but what you can do for me." I said. Maddie raised her eyebrows in curiosity.

"Okay, and what is it that you want me to do?"

"Well, I have a date this evening and I desperately need help with wardrobe." I explained.

"Awh! Your first date!" Maddie exclaimed. I blushed and playfully rolled my eyes.

"Yeah, yeah, so will you help me?" I asked.

"Uh, sure, but don't people usually go to London for fashion advice?"

"Well, most people, but to me, London's more of an acquaintance. You're my friend." I explained, causing Maddie to smile.

"Awh! That's so sweet!" She gushed. "Okay, my shift ends in about ten minutes, so just give me until then." She said.

"Kay, I'll just hang out in the lobby for now." I stated. I turned around, instantly spotting Nick on one of the couches. Huh, how long has he been there? "Maddie! That's the guy I'm going on the date with!" I immediately told Maddie. She looked up at where I was pointing.

"Ooh, he's cute." She said.

"I know! I'm gonna go say Hi." I said. I decided to sneak up on him, so I walked up behind the couch. I was about to say something, when I realised he was on the phone.

"I know, Babe, I miss you too. Look, today is my last day in Boston and then I'll be home. Okay, I love you too. Bye, Baby." He then hung up. Hang on; Babe? Baby? I miss you? I love you? Am I mistaken, or does it sound like he was on the phone to his girlfriend?

I walked around to the front of the couch, since he still didn't know I was there, and stood in front of him.

"Oh, hey, Lola. We still on for our date?" He asked with a smile. Is he serious right now?

"You know, I was going to say yes... But then I remembered I don't date lying, cheating jerks." I said, my voice starting sweet but ending bitterly. Nick instantly looked guilty.

"You heard me on the phone, I'm guessing?"

"Yeah, I heard you. Loud and clear."

"Look, Lola, i-it's not what it seems." He stuttered.

"Really? Because it seems like you asked me on a date even though you already have a girlfriend!" I said, raising my voice. Nick opened his mouth to speak, but nothing came out. "That's what I thought." And without thinking, I picked up the vase that was conveniently on the coffee table, took the flowers out, and dumped the water all over Nick. Nick gasped and shot up from the couch.

"What the hell!" He whined, before running off. I put the vase back on the table, not even bothering to put the flowers back in. That's when I noticed Zack and Cody walking over. Plus, Maddie left the candy counter unattended to come over.

"Wow, that was...hilarious! The way you poured the water all over him! Man!" Zack said.

"Zack!" Maddie hissed, elbowing him in the rib. I ignored him and looked at Cody.

"Is that what you wanted to tell me?" I asked, finally putting the pieces together. He said he needed to tell me something about Nick, and I didn't listen... Man, I'm so stupid.

"Yeah... Are you okay?" He asked, sounding genuinely concerned.

"I'm fine." I told him. I wasn't, to be honest, but I wasn't going to let them know I was upset. I doubt they'd make fun of me, but I still put on a brave face. I'm Lola Martin, and I don't cry in front of anyone. Just like I didn't cry when Mom and Dad divorced.

"Are you sure?" Maddie asked.

"I'm fine." I repeated, a little harsher than intended. I didn't say another word as I pushed passed them and took the elevator back up to our suite.

After hours of moping around in my room, I decided to do something. I exited the suite and took the elevator to the floor where the beauty pageant was. Cody would be going on soon, and I thought I'd be there to support him. I walked into the dressing room, to see him sat in one of the chairs, dressed as Tyreesha already.

"Hey, Lola, how're you feeling?" Cody asked as he saw me walk in.

"I told you, Cody, I'm fine." I insisted. That's when Rebecca walked in.

"Oh, Lola, I heard about what happened with you and my cousin. I just want you to know that I'm really sorry about the way he treated you and I hope we can still be friends." She told me, since we'd become pretty good friends since she and "Tyreesha" have been hanging out.

"It's okay, really. And of course me and you can still be friends." I said, forcing a smile. Rebecca smiled back, before turning to "Tyreesha".

"Anyway, I just wanted to say good luck. I hope you win the pageant, Tyreesha!"

"No, you deserve to win!" Cody said, standing up, "You're beautiful, and unselfish, and I've never seen anyone juggle while baking a cake!" Wow, she can do that?!

"You're so sweet! If you were a boy, I'd kiss you!" Rebecca exclaimed, before walking away, probably to get ready for the next part of the pageant or whatever.

I saw Cody sigh and slump into his chair.

"What's wrong, Codes?" I asked.

"I think I might drop out." Cody said, "It feels wrong to take the prize money when Rebecca needs it for something so much more important than bikes." He explained. I was about to say something, when Zack walked in.

"Dude, those bikes are ours! You are so gonna win this thing!" He told Cody.

"No I'm not." Cody answered.

"You need to have confidence. You're such a loser, what's wrong with you?!"

"Hey, lay off." I almost growled at Zack, pushing him slightly after he hit Cody's arm.

"I'm throwing the competition." Cody announced, standing up and walking over to other side of the room. Me and Zack followed him. "Rebecca needs the money for vet school." Cody continued.

"We've gone through too much for you to ruin this now." Zack said.

"We?! I'm the one wearing a dress!" Cody argued.

"And you've never looked better!" Zack replied.

"Well, you better take a good last look, 'cause I'm about to take it off for good." Cody said.

"I can't believe you're gonna let some girl come between us."

"Zack, give him a break. You can't force him to keep dressing like a girl just because you're greedy for money!" I said, trying not to yell.

"Hey, you were all for it at the beginning!" Zack retorted.

"Yeah, and now I've realised how selfish it is!" I shouted.

"Look, you are not throwing this competition!" Zack told Cody.

"Try and stop me, pal." Cody said.

"Well, then, take off the dress 'cause I can't hit a woman." Zack said, as they advanced on each other until their foreheads were almost touching.

"Zack, let us out of here!" Cody yelled, banging on the door of the closet. Yeah, we didn't do what he wanted, so Zack locked us in the closet. We'd been locked in for a good five minutes, when my heart started beating faster than usual. I started to feel a little breathless, but ignored it.

"Zack!" I shrieked, also banging on the door. I stopped suddenly, when the walls looked like they were closing in. Cody noticed me looking scared and frowned.

"Lola? You okay?"

"Cody... Do the walls seem to be closing in to you?" I asked, breathing a little heavier than usual. Cody looked even more alarmed and started banging on the door harder.

"Zack!" He shouted. Finally, one of the pageant contestants let us out. As soon as the fresh air got to my lungs, I could breath properly again. "Where's Zack?" Cody asked the girl.

"Who?"

"Tyreesha." I said.

"She's out there." She said, pointing through the curtains. Both me and Cody ran out, and ended up running out onto the stage. Of course, Cody was in his underwear, which made it that much more awkward. But Cody didn't even care as he tackled Zack to the ground.

"You're ruining Rebecca's chance at the crown!" He yelled, pinning him to the ground.

"You're ruining our chance at new bikes!" Zack said, flipping them over to he was on top of Cody.

"I don't care about the bikes! I care about Rebecca!" Cody yelled.

"Well I don't!" Zack yelled back.

"That's because you only care about yourself! Because of you, Lola almost had a freaking panic attack! Did you know she's claustrophobic?! Gosh, you're so self-centred!" Cody screamed, having flipped over so he was back on top.

"Guys! Stop!" I tried to break them apart, but somehow ended up being pulled down with them. Cody grabbed Zack's helmet and wig and pulled them off, revealing his true gender and earning a lot of gasps from the crowd.

"What is going on?!" Mom yelled. It was then that I realised she, Mr. Moseby, the host and Rebecca were stood there.

"Nothing out of the ordinary. Your triplets are attempting to destroy my hotel, but with a new twist. One of the boys is wearing a dress." Moseby said.

"What in the day long dickens is going on?!" Shrieked one of the judges or whatever, running onto the stage.

"I don't know which one of you two is Tyreesha, but he or she is disqualified!" The host guy said.

"You're a boy?!" Rebecca screamed.

"You're a boy?" Cody said pulling Zack's shoulder back. I rolled my eyes.

"Very funny! You guys are such jerks!" Rebecca yelled, and then ran off.

"Zack. Why are you wearing a skirt?" Mom asked with slight fear.

"I did so we could win money for bikes." He admitted. Well, at least he seems guilty, which means he's not completely heartless.

"Oh, thank goodness!" Mom said. I guess I would be sorta scared too if my son suddenly decided to dress like a girl.

The next day, I was in the lobby with Cody, when Zack walked up to us.

"Hey, man, you okay?" He asked Cody.

"Yeah." Cody shrugged.

"Sorry I ruined it for you and Rebecca, I guess I was just being a selfish, greedy goofball."

"Nah, you weren't greedy." Cody said.

"Yes he was." I snorted. Cody nudged me.

"So, we're cool?" Zack asked.

"Yeah, we're cool... I can't believe I thought a girl could be more useful than a bike!" Cody said.

"Hey!" I yelled.

"Sorry, what I mean is from now on, it's just me and you two." He said.

"Cody, can I talk to you?" Rebecca asked, walking up behind Cody.

"Buzz off, Bike Boy!" Cody said, pushing Zack aside. "You too, Sissy!" He pushed me aside too, as he started talking to Rebecca.

"Lola?" Zack asked, turning to me. I looked at him. "I'm sorry to you, too. I had no idea you were claustrophobic. I wouldn't have done it if I knew you were. Well, I shouldn't have done at all after the day you've had." He said. I sighed.

"It's okay. I know you have absolutely no self-control when it comes to money." I said, smirking slightly. Zack rolled his eyes playfully. I felt someone tap me on the shoulder, so I turned around and came face-to-face with Nick.

"Lola, can I talk to you?" He asked nervously.

"Why? What could you possibly say that could make this all better?" I narrowed my eyes at him and crossed my arms.

"Well, um, I just wanted to say sorry." He said, scratching the back of his neck.

"Well, Nick, sorry doesn't cut it. Sorry doesn't make it all better. The only thing that would make it all better is if I had never met you in the first place. Oh, and I hope your girlfriend, whoever she is, realises who you really are and dumps your two-timing butt." I spat. "Let's go, Zack." I mumbled to my brother, who had been stood there, watching the whole thing.

"You okay?" Zack asked as we walked into the elevator.

"Yeah. Just peachy." I said, my voice barely above a whisper. The elevator soon stopped on the 23rd floor and we went into our suite. I went straight into our room, without even saying 'Hi' to Mom, while Zack went over to the fridge. I changed out of my clothes and threw some pyjamas on, even though it was barely 5:00pm yet. I opened the top drawer of my bedside table and took out my sketchpad and a pencil. I guess you could say I'm a bit of an artist. I like to draw when I'm stressed and upset, and I suppose I'm kinda good at it.

I was halfway through my sketch when the bedroom door opened and Zack walked in.

"Hey, Lola." He said as he walked over to his bed.

"Hi." I mumbled, not looking up from my drawing.

"Want a pudding cup?" He asked me. I glanced up and realised he was holding two pudding cups.

"No thanks." I replied, going back to my drawing. With a few finishing touches, I had completed my drawing. I know, I know, a broken heart couldn't be any more cliché, but I didn't intend on drawing this, it just...happened. As I put my sketch pad and pencil away, the bedroom door opened and Cody walked in. He shut the door behind him and pressed his back against it, sighing happily.

"Uh, hey, Cody." I said slowly.

"You alright, buddy?" Zack asked, just as curious as me to know why our brother was practically swaying from side to side in happiness.

"I'm fantastic." Cody said dreamily.

"Okay, dude, what happened?" Zack asked.

"She kissed me." He replied simply, referring to Rebecca. Well, at least one of us got something good out of this whole thing.

"Wow, congrats, bro!" Zack praised.

"Yeah, way to go." I said, not quite as entusiastic .

Soon enough, Mom came in a told us to go to bed, since it was a school night. So, we did. But, no matter how hard I tried to sleep, I couldn't. I was too depressed about Nick.

"Ugh." I groaned, falling onto my back after tossing and turning and almost falling off the bed a few times. It really annoys me that I'm getting all worked up over a stupid boy. I mean, I'm literally losing sleep over it!

I sighed and got out of bed. I snuck out of the room and tiptoed passed Mom's couch bed, to get a drink. I grabbed a glass and filled it with apple juice, downing it fairly quickly. I then put the empty glass and apple juice away and went back into our room.

"Lola?" I heard Cody mumble as I shut the door behind me.

"Sorry, did I wake you?" I asked.

"No, I've been awake for a while." He replied, turning his bedside lamp on as he sat up, "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," I said, pressing my back against the door, "I'm fine."

"No, Lola," He swung his legs out of bed, so he was sitting on the edge of the mattress, "You're not. You're my triplet sister, I can tell." He stated.

"Yeah, we can read your mind." Zack chimed in, either having just woken up or having been awake already. Cody glared at Zack.

"No, what I mean is we know you better than anyone, which means we know when you're lying about being okay." Cody said, walking over to me.

"Well, I guess I'm kinda bummed about what Nick did. And it does kinda hurt that he probably didn't even care about leading me on like that." I admitted, blinking away the tears that filled my eyes.

"Hey, don't cry." Cody said softly, "It was his loss. You're awesome and he was stupid for doing what he did. And hey, there are plenty of fish in the sea, so don't let this one guy get you down."

"I guess you're right." I sniffled, wiping the tears away, "I just hope the next fish isn't a lying, cheating pig who thinks he can just play me like I'm some toy and then just-"

"Breath, Lola, breath." Cody cut me off.

"Right, sorry, sometimes I forget to do that." I said. Cody smiled.

"Hey, if the next guy is a lying, cheating pig, can I watch when you lash out on him?" Zack asked.

"Zack!" Cody hissed, glaring at him.

"It's okay. I think I'm just gonna try and sleep now." I said.

"Okay. Night, Lo." He said.

"Night, Codes." I replied. I gave him a quick hug, said goodnight to Zack, and got into bed, where I eventually fell asleep.


	3. 3 Maddie Checks In

*Lola's P.O.V*

Me and the boys were watching the candy counter for Maddie, when I noticed two guys walk in.

"Mm-mmm, look what the hunk fairy just dropped off." London said, looking at the guys, "Jason Harrington and Kyle Lawford." She snapped her fingers and held her hand out, "Gloss me."

"Sorry, we're watching the counter for Maddie." Zack told her.

"We're not allowed to accept money, make change, or touch any of the merchandise." I said.

"Is there anything you can do?" London asked.

"I can shove twelve gummy worms up my nose, you wanna see?" Cody said. London looked purely horrified.

"No one wants to see that, Cody." I told him, as Maddie walked up to the counter.

"Oh, there you are. Where have you been? Never mind. Gloss me candy girl." She snapped her fingers at Maddie, just like she'd done to us.

Maddie snapped her fingers, mocking London, and said, "Off the clock." Before pushing London aside. "Thanks guys." She said, as Zack handed Maddie her bag.

"No problem, sweet thang!" Zack said. I rolled my eyes.

"Awh." Maddie smiled, "Call me in 10 years."

"London?" One of those guys said. London licked her lips, since she still hadn't gotten her lip gloss, and ran over to the guy.

"Kyle!" London said, as we followed her over.

"Hey!" Kyle said to London.

"Small world!" London said.

"Uh, hi. I'm Jason." The other guy said to Maddie, shaking her hand.

"Hi, I'm...um...uh..."

"Maddie!" Cody told her.

"What he said." Maddie said, giggling.

"So, do you come to the Tipton Hotel often?" Jason asked.

"Oh, it's like I live here." Maddie said.

"So, Kyle, you in town for the Usher concert?" London asked.

"Semester break. Our parents arrive from Aspen tomorrow, then we fly to Bermuda. Our Moms lost their tans skiing." Kyle said.

"Oh, I hate when that happens." Maddie said. What is she talking about? I don't even think Maddie's ever been skiing! "Well, as we say, gotta jet!" She said, looking at her watch. Maddie headed for the door, Cody and I decided to go up to our suite, while Zack went to talk to Maddie, probably about Jason. I saw the way Zack was glaring at him.

Me and my brothers were in the living room, in our pyjamas since it was fairly late already. We were looking for the baseball in the coat closet, since we wanted to play, when we heard voices from outside the suite.

"Did you hear somebody say 'Whoo'?" Cody asked.

"It must be Maddie!" Zack exclaimed. Like every night, she was babysitting us, but was running late for some reason. I think it's because she had a date. "Get down!" Zack ordered, so Cody got on his hands and knees. Zack stood on his back and looked through the peephole, while I pressed my ear against the door to hear what was going on.

I couldn't hear that well, but I heard London say something about going to the rooftop without Maddie and Jason.

"So, I guess I should say goodbye?" I heard Jason say. And then I think he suggested that Maddie invites him into her suite. Wait, Maddie doesn't live here...

I pressed my ear harder against the door, trying to get better earshot.

"My sweet what?" I heard Maddie ask. I rolled my eyes. I just don't get why teenage girls go all giddy and clueless around boys. I mean, I know I kinda acted like that when I first met Nick, but we all know how that ended up. "Oh, my suite, in the hotel, where I live, because I'm rich... No, you can't come in."

Did Maddie just say she's rich? Okay, did she drink too much on her date or something?

"I think that creep's trying to kiss her!" Zack said, still looking through the peephole, "Man, if I was five years older and two feet taller..."

"I'd be squashed." Cody said, his voice strained from the weight of Zack. I just chuckled in amusement.

"So, you're leaving tomorrow," Maddie began. I could hear her much better now, I think she'd moved closer to the door. "So I guess we should-"

"Should start kissing now." I heard Jason say. Damn, Zack's not going to like that.

"But I hardly know you." Maddie said.

"Well, as a goodbye kiss?" Jason suggested. I didn't hear anything after that. Then Cody shifted under Zack's weight, causing Zack to topple, Zack grabbed onto me for support, which caught me by surprise and since I was wearing socks on a wooden floor, it was easy for me to lose my balance and slip, pulling Zack down with me. I honestly felt sorry for Cody, since we both landed on top of him.

We quickly got up, and Zack and Cody switched places, so Cody stood on Zack's back and looked through the peephole, while I pressed my ear against the door again. I didn't hear much of their conversation, but I did hear Jason say, "Not before you say goodbye." And I think we all know what that meant.

"They're kissing goodbye." Cody said, watching through the peephole. I smiled.

"Couldn't they just say goodbye?" Zack whined.

The next morning, me, Zack and Cody sat at the kitchen table, eating breakfast, while Maddie was in the other room packing her stuff, since she spent the night.

"Hey, thanks for letting me stay the night." Maddie said, walking in with her suitcase.

"Sure, no problem." Mom said, leaning on one of the chairs, "So, word on the street is that Jason's kinda cute." Zack rolled his eyes at the mention of Jason.

"Oh, beyond. And he thinks I'm the most intelligent, beautiful, down-to-earth, rich girl he's ever met." Maddie said.

"Okay, whoa, back up," Mom walked over to Maddie, "Rich?"

"It's complicated?" Maddie said, though it came out as more of a question. Mom raised her eyebrows. "I was doing London a favour," Maddie explained, "It's not like I wanted to do it."

"Oh, yeah, must've been torture to have to kiss that boy." Mom said. Maddie's eyebrows furrowed. "Cat's told me." Mom explained. Maddie turned to look at us, but we just put our heads down and innocently continued to eat our breakfast. "So, when are you gonna tell him the truth?"

"Never. He's gone. It was only for one night, and I'll never have to see him again." Maddie replied.

"Maddie?" Zack spoke up, as the three of us got down from the table, "Will you take us to the park on your way home?"

"Sure, c'mon." Maddie smiled.

"Don't bring back another homeless squirrel!" Mom told us sternly.

"Aww." We whined. Me and Cody followed Maddie out, but Zack stayed back to answer the phone that started ringing just as we left. As we left the suite, the elevator opened and Jason walked out with two other people, who looked like his parents.

"Oh no." Maddie mumbled, hiding behind me and Cody.

"Maddie," Jason smiled, "These are my parents." He said, as Maddie stood up straight.

"Hi. I, uh, thought you'd be on your way to Bermuda by now." She said.

"Well, so did we, but Jason insisted on another night in Boston." Jason's father said, eyeing Maddie, "And now I know why."

"Jason has spoken of nothing but you. All the way from the lobby, up to our room. And our room is on a very high floor." His mother said. Maddie smiled.

"You checking out?" Jason asked, looking at Maddie's suitcase with a hint of disappointment.

"Um, uh..."

"Uh, no, she's moving to the top floor." Cody jumped in.

"Yes, the imperial suite." I added, putting emphasis on "imperial".

"Her old suite was the wrong shade of beige." Cody explained. Beige, really?

"Well, we were just coming down to invite you to dinner. I convinced them to take us to Club Nouveau." Jason told Maddie.

"Really? Wow!" Maddie said, "I can't go." She stated. Jason and his parents looked disappointed. "Yeah, I promised I'd babysit the triplets tonight."

"Oh, yes, Jason told us about your charity work with indigent children." Jason's mother said. Charity work?! Indigent?!

"Guys!" Zack said, running into the hall, "Hey, Josh called, we're sleeping over at his house tonight."

"Excellent, now you can join us." Jason's father said.

"Uh...I..."

"We're on the top floor as well. In fact, we'll pick you up. Seven o'clock sharp." He said, before they all left, leaving Maddie, Zack, Cody and myself in the middle of the hallway, thinking about how much of a disaster this all is.

We went back into our suite with Maddie, and now she was pacing around the room while we sat on the edge of the coffee table.

"What am I going to do?" Maddie stressed.

"Here's a wild thought, tell him the truth." I said.

"I don't think so! I mean, if I tell him now, Jason will look like a fool. And I will look like..."

"A lying gold digger?" Cody suggested. I gave him an elbow to the ribs, as we all looked at him incredulously. "Which you're not!" He exclaimed obviously.

"How am I gonna get out of this?!" Maddie whined.

"We'll help you with Jason." I told her. Zack leaned in closer to me.

"Why would help my future wife hook up with some other dude?" He asked me.

"Because he's leaving tomorrow and she'll owe you big time." Cody said.

"Okay," Zack began, as we got up and walked over to Maddie, "Here's what we do. First, we need to get you an imperial suite."

"Do you have any idea how much they cost?" Maddie asked.

"Awh, she's thought we were gonna pay." Cody said.

"That's sweet." I said.

"No. We don't pay, Baby." Zack said. Maddie looked a little scared, but most people do when they're involved with our plans. Zack explained the plan to Maddie, and then we set off.

First, we went to the lobby to get the key card. Me and Cody walked passed the front desk, and Cody "accidentally" slipped, and then I "accidentally" fell on top of him. We both got up, moaning and groaning, as most of the staff came over.

"Oh no! I think I hurt my coccyx!" Cody said. I gave him a "really?" look.

"And I think my wrist is broken!" I said, going for a more normal body part, unlike my idiot brother. I saw Zack grab the key card and swipe it on the computer, then he gave us the signal. I gave Cody a subtle nudge, nodding towards Zack.

"All better now, thank you." Cody told everyone, as we walked away from the crowd of concerned adults.

Next, we tracked down Esteban, since we knew he was doing London's dry cleaning, which meant he would have at least one item of London's clothing. We found him coming out of the elevator and sure enough, he was carrying one of London's expensive, designer dresses.

"Hey, Esteban, Moseby's yelling for ya." I said, as we ran up to him.

"For me? But he never yells for me... He yells at me, but only when I deserve it. He is a great man." Esteban said, smiling.

"Well, you're keeping a great man waiting." Zack said.

"Oh, but this dress must go to London." He said.

"We'll take it." Cody said.

"Oh, bless you little blonde peoples!" Esteban grinned, giving the dress to Cody. Huh, that was easier than I thought.

Once we had the dress, we met Maddie in the imperial suite, where she put the dress on. I have to say, she looked gorgeous.

"Check it out!" Zack said, "It's a Paris original, from London!" Huh, I just realised how ironic that is.

"How do I look?" Maddie asked.

"Beautiful." I said.

"Rich!" Zack said.

"Good." Maddie said. The doorbell rang and me, Zack and Cody ran to answer it.

"Enter." Zack said as we opened the door.

"Oh, look, you put the little inner-city boys to work." Jason's mother said. "They're so cute... Make sure you check their pockets before they leave." She muttered to Maddie. I rolled my eyes.

"Fabulous view. I can see the park from here." Jason's father said.

"Yes, that's what trees look like before you cut them down." Jason said. His father simply chuckled.

"Our little rebel." His mother said.

"My son doesn't approve of what I do. Even though it pays for everything he does." His father said, becoming a little agitated.

"I know, why don't we all come back up here after the dinner that George pays for, and look at the trees that Jason loves, and have dessert delivered by that cute Latin waiter I enjoy." Jason's mother suggested, earning a look from her husband.

"Uh, shouldn't we be heading out? I hear Club Nouveau is off the hook." Maddie said.

"Actually, all the Boston papers say that the hottest ticket in town is right here at The Tipton. It's Carey Martin, the indigent's mother." Jason's mother said.

"She's great! If you only have one night here, you've gotta see her!" Cody exclaimed.

"Although I'm sure we can find someone just as good who is not at this hotel." Maddie said, giving Cody a "shut up" look.

"Nonsense, we have reservations." Jason's father said. Maddie laughed nervously.

"So do I." She muttered.

We followed Jason, Maddie and Jason's parents into the lobby and made sure they got passed the lobby without Maddie blowing her cover.

"Keep it moving, folks! Only the best table for my friends!" Zack said, as they walked into the lounge, where Mom was performing.

"But I don't want your Mom to see us." Maddie whispered to us.

"Which is way in the back behind a pole!" I added, yelling after Jason and his parents. Maddie followed them in, as me and my brothers turned to each other.

"We're good!" We said in unison, doing our handshake (A/N: They do the handshake at around 0:34. Imagine it as a three-way handshake). We started running towards the elevator, to get the imperial suite ready, when we saw the famous wrestler, The Amputator walk in.

"Mr. Amputator!" Moseby said, walking over to him.

"Moseby." The Amputator said, as they shook hands.

"Good to see you again." Moseby said, "Another wrestle royale at the garden?"

"The Amputator's here!" Zack exclaimed, "He's my favourite wrestler!"

"Your imperial suite awaits." Moseby told The Amputator. Uh oh.

"And he's staying in Maddie's suite!" Cody said in alarm.

"Is that the expensive one?" The Amputator asked Moseby, as they walked over to the front desk. Me and the boys jumped on one of the couches to get a better look and so we could eavesdrop.

"Everything at The Tipton is expensive." Moseby said.

"Perfect. 'Cause the promoter's paying for it." He said.

"What do we do now? We have to get him out of that suite before Maddie gets back!" Cody panicked.

"Just stall him. When I'm done with that room, he's gonna wish he never checked in." Zack smirked, holding up his multi-tool.

"Ooh, I'll help." I grinned, and followed Zack into the elevator. When we got the the suite, I was on lookout for Mr. Moseby or anyone else who could bust us, while Zack got to work. Firstly, he crawled under the table and undid the screws on it. I stayed by the door, until I heard the phone ring. Zack was busy messing with the sink, so I went to answer it. I hesitated, in case it was Moseby or something, so I answered and disguised my voice slightly.

"Hello?"

"Get out now! I'm warning Maddie!" Cody's voice said, before the line went dead.

"Zack! The Amputator's coming, we need to get out!" I told Zack. Zack nodded, and we put our next prank into action. Zack put a quarter in the middle of the floor, and we stood in our hiding place.

Soon enough, The Amputator came through the door and instantly spotted the quarter. As he bent down to pick it up, me and Zack made a run for it, and Zack pulled on the string that was connected to the quarter, so he got it back. As we shut the door behind us, we bumped into London. Oh dear.

"I have been looking for you! Esteban told me he gave you my Paris original. Where is it?" She demanded.

"Paris?" I said, as me and Zack made a run for it, only to have London follow us. Zack tried to tell her some unbelievable story as to where her dress was, but she wasn't buying it. She grabbed our wrists, stopping us from running away.

"I'm telling the truth! Your dress was eaten by wild, Argentinian moths!" Zack said, but even someone as dumb as London wouldn't believe that.

"Give me my dress right now!" She demanded, as Cody walked out of the elevator.

"You told her we gave it to Maddie?!" He asked. I gave him a "shut up!" look. London gasped.

"No!" Zack said.

"G-Good, 'cause, we didn't do that." Cody said nervously.

"I'm telling Moseby right now!" London said.

"No, we'll take you to Maddie. You win." Zack said. Me and Cody exchanged a look, then looked at him. Zack flicked his head towards the closet and we instantly knew what he was thinking. We nodded and played along. "She's changing in here." Zack told London, leading her over to the closet.

"In here?" London asked, confused. She looked in, giving us the chance to shove her into the closet and slam the door, putting a chair up against the door to keep her in. It may have been a little rational to lock her in the closet, but what else could we do? Let her ruin everything for Maddie?

We ran back to the imperial suite and found the fusebox just around the corner from the suite, so we shut the power off and we waited for The Amputator to leave the suite. I mean, with the damage we caused, he won't wanna stay in there. And soon enough, we heard the door open and watched The Amputator leave with a slight limp. Once he was gone, Cody turned the power back on and closed the fusebox and we went into the suite.

"Alright, let's put this puppy back together." Zack said, taking out his multi-tool. Once we fixed everything, we called Maddie and told her it was safe to come back.

"Okay, they're coming." Cody said, after putting the phone down.

"We are so good." Zack said.

"Is there a hall of fame for this kinda stuff?" I asked.

"Yes, it's called prison." A voice said from behind us. Oh no. We spun round and saw Mr. Moseby and The Amputator stood in the doorway.

"Mr. Moseby!" We said in unison.

"There's two of them?!" The Amputator asked in horror, "And a girl one?!"

"Hm, except in my dreams, where I see them by the hundreds." Moseby said. And if that wasn't bad enough, Maddie, Jason and his parents walked in, and Mom!

"Oh boy." Maddie said, seeing Moseby and The Amputator.

"What are all these people doing in your suite?" Jason's father asked.

"Amputator? I loved your last steel cage grudge match! And when your shirt came off... Bravo." Jason's mother said. Okay, creepy.

"Thank you." The Amputator said awkwardly.

"No, thank you." She said dreamily. Okay, even more creepy.

"Maddie, what's going on?" Jason asked.

"Uh, what's going on is..."

"Aha!" London yelled, appearing at the door. She had obviously managed to get out of the closet, but there was still a bucket on her foot. "Get out of my dress!" She ordered, walking over to Maddie as easily as she could with the bucket. It was quite amusing, I must say.

"What does she mean 'her dress'?" Jason asked.

"She designed it!" Zack tried to say.

"Let it go." Mom said, pulling him back by the collar of his shirt.

"She means...it's not mine. I'm not rich. I work at the hotel as the candy counter girl." Maddie confessed.

"I knew she wasn't rich." Jason's father said, "She's too nice."

"I don't know what I was thinking. I was pretending to be something that... I'm not. And I'm sorry." Maddie said, before she ran out in tears. Mom let go of us to run after her.

"So... Do body slams always hurt?" Jason's mother asked The Amputator. He just looked uncomfortable. I would be too.

The next day, we were in the lobby with Mom. We were bored out of our minds because she grounded us.

"Mom, I can't believe you took away our TV!" Zack whined.

"Let's review, shall we?" Mom said. Oh boy, here it comes, "You destroyed the imperial suite, you almost ruined my show, you locked London in a closet and you injured a professional wrestler." Okay, well, when she says it like that it sounds bad.

"All to help a friend." I said.

"And that should be it's own reward." Mom said.

"Mom!" We all said in unison.

"Mom come on!" Cody whined. We tried whining some more, before she walked out of the lobby, and we decided to go up to our suite. We started walking towards the elevator, when we saw Maddie and Jason talking. We couldn't hear what they were saying, but we did see them kiss. I smiled. She finally got her happy ending.

"Again?! How many times do they have to say goodbye?!" Zack complained. I rolled my eyes.

"Get over it." Me and Cody said in unison, pushing Zack into the elevator.

Later that day, me and the boys found The Amputator by the front desk, just before he checked out. Cody ran over and jumped on his back, while me and Zack were wrapped around each of his ankles.

"Say your prayers, Amputator, your going down!" Cody said. The Amputator simply started walking towards the door.

"The Triplet Terrors have him in a sleeper hold!" I exclaimed.

"Apparently, not asleep yet." Zack said, as The Amputator continued to walk across the lobby with us attached to his legs, and Cody on his back.


	4. 4 Hotel Inspector

*Lola's P.O.V*

"Hey, come on, guys, we have to go work on our science project." Cody said, while we were in the lobby, by the elevator.

"I am doing science. Look, centrifugal force!" Zack said, spinning his yo-yo round and round. I giggled.

"Relax, Cody, our project isn't due for ages." I said. Cody just sighed and walked into the elevator, probably to start on the project without us. Me and Zack continued to play with the yo-yo, taking turns to do tricks and stuff. When it was Zack's turn, he accidentally let go while he was doing his trick. The yo-yo flew out of his hand and went soaring through the air, until it landed in Mr. Moseby's coffee. Moseby turned to look at us with an annoyed look. Me and Zack gave him an innocent smile, before we made a run for it. We ran all the way to our suite, where Mom and Cody were.

"Hide us!" I said in fear.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, what happened?" Mom asked.

"Mr. Moseby's after us! Just because we were playing yo-yo in the lobby... And it might have landed in his mug." Zack explained.

"And then?" Mom asked, crossing her arms and looking at us pointedly.

"We ran after that. He's scary." I said, pouting.

"Mr. Moseby's just doing his job. He needs to keep this hotel running smoothly, and you two tend to be...un-smooth." Mom said.

"Yeah, un-smooth like when Mom doesn't shave her legs for two weeks." Cody said. I laughed, Zack smirked and Mom looked at us with her mouth hanging open in offence.

"Aren't you three supposed to be working on your science experiment?" She asked.

"We've already started. Look!" Cody said, as we went over to the cabinet under the sink. We opened it and took out two boxes with rats in them. Mom screamed and jumped onto the couch.

"No, no, no, no! What- what are you doing with those rats?!" She yelled.

"Science!" I said happily.

"We got them from our school. This is Bonnie, and that's Clyde, they're our experiments." Cody explained.

"Which is what? Giving your mother a heart attack?" Mom shouted.

"No, actually, I play rap music for Bonnie, and heavy metal for Clyde, and then Lola helps Cody write down a bunch of scientific stuff." Zack said.

"You know, behavioural changes, like eating habits, mood swings, urination patterns." Cody said.

"Eww!" Mom whined, "Why does is have to be rats?"

"Too late now, we've bonded." I said, picking up Clyde's cage while Cody picked up Bonnie's.

"Swell," Mom said sarcastically, taking the rat cages from us, "Well, if you don't mind, I'm going to take Bonnie and Clyde away from where we eat." She said, taking them into our room. As she left, the doorbell rang.

"I'll get it!" Cody said.

"No! Wait," Zack said, grabbing Cody's arm, "What if it's Mr. Moseby?"

"We're toast!" I added. Cody smirked.

"Come in!" He called, earning glares from me and Zack. The door opened and just our luck, it was Mr. Moseby.

"Look, Mr. Moseby, if this is about the yo-yo then I'm really-"

"Oh, pish posh!" Moseby cut Zack off. "Kids will be kids. You were just having fun, and that's what kids do, isn't it? They have fun!"

"Did that yo-yo bounce of your head?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Oh, no, I'm fine! I came up here to offer you scamps tickets to today's Red Sox game. It's a matinee." He said, handing Cody three tickets.

"The Red Sox game? Alright!" Cody yelled happily. But I wasn't buying it. There's something fishy going on here.

"And your seats are just above that little hut wherein the players spit and scratch themselves." He said. He began walking out, when Zack stopped him.

"Hold on," He said.

"There's something wrong here." I said, crossing my arms.

"Why do you question my generosity?" Moseby asked.

"Yeah, why do you question his generosity?" Cody said, waving the tickets in front of our faces.

"Tell you what, you go," I said to Cody.

"Yeah, I think me and Lola will just stay here and hang out in the good old lobby. Now, where's my model rocket?" Zack said, pretending to go and look for his rocket.

"No!" Moseby exclaimed. We looked at him. "Alright, fine. The hotel inspector will be arriving soon and it would be marvellous if you weren't around."

"I knew it!" Me and Zack yelled in unison.

"We'll be not around longer if you throw in a little money for dinner." I said, raising my eyebrows suggestively. Moseby sighed and gave me and Zack some money.

"I like lobster." Cody chimed in. Moseby rolled his eyes and gave Cody some money as well, before leaving. Me and the boys went into our room to get ready for the game. Me and Cody grabbed our baseball mitts, while Zack walked over to the rats.

"What are you doing?" I asked him.

"I'm taking Clyde to the game." Zack said, picking Clyde up.

"You can't do that! It'll contaminate the experiment! Who knows what take me out to the ballgame will do to his urinary pattern?!" Cody said.

"Fine, but this is why they like me more than they like you." He said, putting Clyde back in his cage.

"Come on, guys! If we make batting practice, I might meet a player!" Mom called. Me and Cody walked out and Zack followed soon after.

The game was great, but unfortunately it eventually came to an end. Mom took us back to the hotel and we ran straight over to Mr. Moseby.

"Hey, Mr. Moseby!" I said.

"The Sox won 10 to 9!" Cody exclaimed.

"Mom caught a foul ball!" Zack said, as Mom walked in with a bandage on her head from where the ball hit her.

"Yeah, apparently heads up means heads down." She said.

"So, is the evil hotel inspector gone yet?" I asked.

"No, she's right here." A woman with a German accent said, turning around to face us. Oops...

I looked at her and almost puked when I saw the huge, ugly mole on her face.

"Whoa, what's that on your face?!" Zack yelled. Mom quickly clamped her hand over his mouth.

"It's her beauty mark." Mr. Moseby said, with a painfully fake smile.

"B-but it has a hair on it! I mean-" Mom clamped her other hand over Cody's mouth, shutting him up.

"Good thing the other one knows when to keep her mouth shut, I've run out of hands." Mom said, referring to me. "Thanks again for the tickets to the game." She told Mr. Moseby.

"Yeah, thanks, we know they're usually for the guests, so we really appreciate it." Zack said.

"Oh, ignores guest needs for friends." The hotel inspector said snootily. I saw her nametag said 'Ilsa Schicklgrubermeiger'... How the hell do you pronounce that?!

"They're not my friends." Moseby said. Well, that's just rude.

"Oh, ignores guest needs for strangers." She said just as snootily, writing in her notebook. "What kind of hotel manager are you?"

"He's the best!" I said, "He's number one!" The three of us held up our foam fingers that we'd gotten at the game.

"Yeah, last week he let us cook s'mores in the kitchen, and then he put out the fire all by himself!" Zack said.

"Okay..." Mom pulled us away from Moseby and the inspector, so we couldn't screw things up any more. And by "we", I mean my brothers.

Suddenly, everyone started screaming and two rats started running around. Huh, they look a lot like Bonnie and Clyde. Wait a minute...

"Mr. Moseby, in my twenty years as a hotel inspector, I have never been so appalled. Rats in the lobby?!" Ilsa said.

"Yeah, but it-"

"Dut, dut, dut! I am taking over the management of this hotel, until the review board arrives to make their final decision." She told Moseby. "Your Tipton Hotel keys," She ordered, holding out her hand.

"Not his keys!" Zack said, as Moseby handed her his keys.

"Your gold-plated badge,"

"Not the badge!" Cody said, as he gave her his badge.

"Your Tipton tie,"

"Not the tie! Anything but the tie!" I said as he took his tie off and gave it to her.

"I feel compelled to disclose that I am wearing custom-made Tipton boxer shorts." Moseby said.

"Dry clean them and send them back." Ilsa said, and then walked away. Mr. Moseby looked completely distraught as he walked up the steps, towards the exit. He took one last look at everyone, before sadly walking out the door.

"Oh, poor Mr. Moseby!" Mom said.

"Yeah... But what are the odds; there are two rats downstairs and we have two rats upstairs." Cody said cluelessly, as we walked towards the elevator.

"They are upstairs, aren't they?" Mom asked fearfully, looking at Zack in particular.

"Well..."

"Oh!" Mom cried, putting her hand to her forehead in stress.

"They were in my pocket when we got back from the hotel! They must've snuck out when we got back from the game." Zack said.

"You ruined our science experiment!" Cody said.

"And more importantly, you may have ruined Mr. Moseby. Zack, you better think about what you just did, you may have cost the man his job." Mom said.

A week later, we still hadn't found Bonnie and Clyde, plus Mr. Moseby still hadn't come back. Things weren't looking too good, especially with that witch, Ilsa in charge.

"Here, Bonnie... Here, Clyde..." Cody whispered, as we crawled around the lobby, putting cheese out to lure the rats back to us.

"It's been a whole week." I said, sitting up after being on my hands and knees for too long, "I don't think this cheese is working." We both stood up, as the housekeeper, Muriel walked over and stood behind us, as we watched Ilsa talk to Esteban.

"Esteban!" She shouted.

"Yes, Sir... Uh, Ma'am." Esteban said nervously.

"What is that non-regulation pin you are wearing on your Tipton uniform?" She asked, pointing to a small badge on his uniform.

"It belonged to my great grandfather who died while fighting for my country's independence." Esteban told her.

"How touching... Take it off!" Ilsa demanded, before narrowing her eyes at him, "I'm watching you."

"Man, I never thought I'd miss Moseby." Zack said sadly.

"Yeah, she's a real witch. I'd love to vacuum off that mole." Muriel said, before she walked away.

"Man, getting Moseby suspended was the worst thing we've ever done." Zack said, as we watched Ilsa harass Maddie.

"And by "we" you mean you?" Cody said, as I nodded in agreement.

"I'm gonna go over there and talk to her. If things don't go well, you can both have my yo-yo." Zack said, before walking over to Ilsa.

"Excuse me, Ms. Shikel-geiger-counter-" He tried to read the name on her nametag.

"Close enough. What?" Ilsa said. Zack didn't say anything, he just stood there and stared, probably horrified by that mole. "What are you staring at?" Ilsa frowned.

"N-Nothing. I just wanted to say that the rat thing was not Mr. Moseby's fault, it was my fault." Zack told her.

"Well, that changes things." Ilsa said.

"Really?" Zack asked hopefully.

"No! A manager is responsible for everything that happens in a hotel. The buck stops here. Speaking of which," She motioned for me and Cody to come over, and we reluctantly did so, "I want the three of you to stop coming in the front entrance willy nilly."

"But Mr. Moseby always lets us use the-"

"Mr. Moseby doesn't work here anymore!" She interrupted.

"But we need to-"

"Dut, dut, dut! End of conversation." She interrupted again. We stood there and watched her walk away. I'll admit, I was a little scared.

For most of the day, me and Cody continued looking for Bonnie and Clyde (with no luck), while Zack went to Mr. Moseby's apartment to try and apologise, and to get him to come back to The Tipton. I honestly didn't think it would work. I was right.

Zack came back, having failed with Mr. Moseby, and soon enough we went to bed. Cody was already asleep, but Zack was talking to Mom about what happened with Mr. Moseby, and I was listening because I couldn't sleep.

"I don't understand, I went and apologised to Mr. Moseby, but things still aren't any better." Zack said.

"Well, it's good that you apologised, but that doesn't always fix everything." Mom said, playing with his hair.

"That stinks." Zack pouted.

"That's life. Sometimes it takes more than just saying you're sorry." Mom said, "C'mon, try and get some sleep, okay?"

"Okay." Zack said, lying down under the covers.

"Love you." Mom said, kissing his forehead.

"Love you too." She replied, walking towards the door. "Night, Lola." She told me as she turned the light off.

"Night." I answered. She left the room, and I tried to fall asleep, until I heard Zack gasp. I sat up and could just about see him in the moonlight. "Zack, what's going on?" I asked as I saw him sit up.

"Bonnie and Clyde are back!" He exclaimed. I got out of bed and walked over to Zack's bed, and sure enough, Bonnie and Clyde were on his bedside table.

"Bonnie, Clyde, thank goodness you're back!" I whispered excitedly. I picked up Bonnie, while Zack picked up Clyde and we went over to Cody's bed.

"Cody, wake up!" Zack said.

"Are we moving again?" Cody mumbled sleepily, rolling onto his back.

"No! Look who came back, Bonnie and Clyde!" I exclaimed, letting Cody hold Bonnie.

"Oh, thank goodness we found them before the dog party, that would've been a disaster!" Cody said, referring to the party that London was having for her dog, Ivana.

"Yeah, the kind could get a manager fired." Zack said. Realisation hit me and I looked at Zack, who looked at me, before we both looked at Cody.

"Cody, that's a brilliant plan!" I exclaimed.

"Thanks!" Cody said, before confusion crossed his face, "What's my plan again?" He mumbled. Me and Zack both rolled our eyes.

The next day, me and the boys put our plan into action. Zack and Cody went and stole the computer from the office, so they could assign loads of people to new rooms, while I used the phone to book a cat convention. If that won't ruin London's puppy party, I don't know what will.

"Hello?" I said into the phone, making my voice deeper than usual, "Is this the cat lovers society?... Is this the head cat?... Well, you and your entire group have just won a free weekend at The Tipton Hotel... That's right! Bring as many kitties as you'd like." I said. I then hung up and threw my fist into the air, yelling in triumph, "Yeah!"

The next day, the the hotel was packed with new guests and cats, just like we'd planned. Me and the boys met up with Esteban and Muriel, who were also in on the plan.

"Phase one complete." Zack said.

"Phase two: get Moseby here." Cody said. I smirked and got out my cellphone. I dialled Mr. Moseby's number and he answered almost immediately.

"Tipton hote- Moseby residence." Moseby answered.

"Mr. Moseby! It's Lola. You gotta get over here, the place is going crazy, we need you!" I yelled down the phone.

"I'm sure Ilsa can handle it." Moseby replied. I held the phone in front of Esteban, so Moseby could hear him.

"Oh no, the water is up to my neck. Losing...air...fast!" Esteban took a gulp of water and gurgled it, to make it sound like he was drowning.

"There's water in my hotel?" Moseby asked, suddenly interested. I then held the phone in front of Muriel.

"Take your stinkin' paws off me, you dirty ape!" She exclaimed.

"There are apes in my hotel?!" He asked, now alarmed. Next, I held it in front of my brothers.

"Help! There's an angry mob running through the lobby!" Cody yelled.

"Look out!" Zack shouted, as Cody dropped a bag of plates, making them smash.

"The Tipton needs me! I'm coming, Mama!" I heard Moseby say on the other end of the line. I hung up the phone, and me and the boys went back to our suite. We put Bonnie and Clyde in the same cage and took them down to the lobby.

"Onto phase three: Release the rats." I said. Zack and Cody nodded, before they took the other cage and ran to the other side of the lobby. "Bonnie, Clyde, we've gone over the plan," I said, opening the box, "Remember, we're doing this for Moseby." As soon as they had the chance, both rats ran out of the cage and scurried through the lobby. They ran passed the front desk, where the cat lovers were, causing the cats to jump out of their owners arms. Bonnie and Clyde then ran into the cage that Zack and Cody had at the other side of the lobby. The cats went into the room where the dogs were, and a few minutes later, the cats ran back out with a herd of dogs chasing them. The dogs then started running around the lobby, climbing all over the furniture and tearing everything up.

Zack and Cody ran over to me with the rats, as a group of men in suits walked in. They must be the review board.

"For the love of schnitzel!" Ilsa exclaimed in frustration, walking over to the men.

"This may be our best work ever." I said.

"Only if it gets Moseby back." Zack said.

"Ms. Schicklgrubermeiger, I am Martino Guistefester." One of the men said, before pointing to the other to men, "Ambrose Lippencollarmen, Bob Smith."

"Oh, from the Tipton review board." Ilsa said nervously, "Is there any way you could come back, um, not now?" Ivana somehow got out of London's arms, ran towards Ilsa and started gnawing on her shoes. "Get this mangy mutt off of me!" She commanded.

"Stop. Bad dog. No." London said with no emotion, looking at her nails. At that moment, Moseby walked through the revolving door.

"Good gracious! What is going on here?" He yelled.

"Perfect timing!" Zack exclaimed. The dogs started running towards Mr. Moseby and he put his hand out.

"Dogs, halt."

"Wait! Stop! You forgot your doggy bags!" Maddie yelled, following the dogs dressed in what looked like a dog costume.

"Sit." Moseby ordered the dogs, and they did, as did Maddie. "Now, go back to your party, there's nothing to see here." He said. The dogs ran back to the party and Maddie started crawling on her hands and knees, until she realised what she was doing and stood up, walking normally. "Ladies and gentleman, may I have your attention, please?" Moseby called, "All of your complaints will be handled immediately." He started walking towards one of the guests, "Ah, Mr. Takimoto," He then said something in Korean or something, that I didn't understand. Mr. Takimoto smiled and nodded. Mr. Moseby then went over to a woman and said something in another foreign language. He then went over to another guest and said something in another language, and the only word I understood from it was "hairspray".

"Cool!" The guest said, walking away. Me and my brothers looked at each other, impressed at all these languages we never knew Moseby could speak.

"Esteban!" Moseby called, and Esteban was there in a nanosecond.

"Yes, your majesty?"

"I want gift baskets for each of these guests immediately. And some catnip for our feline friends." Moseby ordered.

"Oh, for you, anything." Esteban grinned. He ran to do his job, and passed Ilsa on the way, "And for you, bupkis." He sneered at her.

"Mr. Moseby," One of the review board men said, walking over to Mr. Moseby, "On behalf of The Tipton review board, I must say, I am very impressed."

"Well, thank you, sir." Moseby replied.

"I'll have you know, I had everything under control!" Ilsa spoke up. Ha, yeah right.

"Not from where we stand." The review man said, "I think this review is done. You obviously cannot inspire loyalty in staff and you're certainly not fit to run a hotel."

"This isn't a hotel!" Ilsa protested, "This is a circus! With dogs and cats and rats and clowns and triplets! The only thing missing is a bearded lady... Watch it!" She pointed a stern finger at Moseby, who was dying to say what we were all thinking, "You would have to be out of your mind to work here!" Ilsa said.

"Well, then call me crazy." Moseby replied. I smiled and so did Zack and Cody.

"Mr. Moseby, please continue your fine work here." The review board guy said, shaking Mr. Moseby's hand. He then walked towards Ilsa, "Ms. Schicklgrubermeiger. Your Tipton keys, your nametag, and your pen." He ordered, holding his hand out. When she gave him the pen, she purposely stuck the pointy end in his hand, making him scream in pain.

"No hard feelings?" Moseby asked Ilsa, as the review board people left. Moseby held his hand out, but pulled it away as Ilsa went to shook it, "Psych!" He said. I giggled lightly, earning a glare from Ilsa.

"I'll get you next time, Mr. Moseby. And your little dog, too!" Ilsa exclaimed, looking at Ivana. And with that, she left. We all clapped and cheered as she walked towards the door. "Dut, dut, dut!" She yelled at us, before leaving for good. Norman gave a happy thumbs-up as the door shut behind her.

"Was all of this your doing?" Moseby asked, looking at us.

"It was Zack and Lola!" Cody exclaimed. Gee, thanks, bro.

"We're sorry, Mr. Moseby!" I said.

"So you engineered this mayhem, almost destroying my hotel in the process?" He asked.

"Yes we did." Zack mumbled as we hung our heads in shame.

"Well, I just have one thing to say to you two." Moseby said, "Thank you."

Me and Zack looked up, surprised.

"Our pleasure." We said in unison.

"Hey, hey, I helped destroy the hotel too!" Cody said. I rolled my eyes.

"You know, guys, next week, the health inspector's coming... You ever been to New York?" Moseby asked.

"Throw in Yankees tickets, and we're there!" Zack exclaimed, as the four of us made our way to Ivana's puppy party.


	5. 5 Grounded on the 23rd Floor

*Lola's P.O.V*

"Gangway! Coming through! Watch out!" I yelled, rolling out of the elevator, into the lobby. Me, Zack and Cody were having a rollerblade race. See, this is what happens when we're bored while Mom's working.

"Lola, what are you doing?" Mom asked. It was then that I realised she was stood in the middle of the lobby in her performance outfit.

"Winning!" I replied. I heard Zack and Cody behind me, as I headed for the hotel entrance.

"Hi, Mom!" I heard Cody say.

"Zack! Cody! Stop, right now!" Mom demanded. We ignored her, of course. Zack and Cody followed me into the revolving door and we did a full circle, then I skated down the ramp thingy in the lobby. I started going a little too fast, so I tried to stop but couldn't.

"Look out! Look out! I can't stop!" I shouted, before crashing into a bellhop who was carrying a bag of golf clubs.

"What is going on? If it's not one thing, it's-" Mr. Moseby was cut off when a guy in an expensive looking jumpsuit tripped on the bag of golf clubs and fell on top of him, "MAMA!" Moseby yelled in fear, as he and the man hit the ground.

"Mr. Moseby, are you okay?" Mom asked, as everyone crowded around.

"Here at The Tipton, it's the guest that matters, not the manager." Moseby said, obviously trying to hide the pain. Zack and Cody came and helped me up, and Mom turned to us with an angry look as we took our helmets off.

"Look what you guys did! You broke Mr. Moseby!" She exclaimed, "You are so grounded."

"When you grounded, does that include the pool, and the gym, and the arcade-" Zack was cut off by Mom.

"Our room! On the 23rd floor!" She said sternly. She then turned to Mr. Moseby, who was now standing up and was dusting himself off. The other guy was gone. "Mr. Moseby, I am so sorry. You won't see them down here for a long, long time. 'Til they go to college."

"Or prison." Moseby said. I rolled my eyes. Moseby then walked away, holding his lower back and groaning.

"Guys, just once, would it kill you to behave?" Mom asked us. Me and my brothers looked at each other, before we put our hands on our throats and fell to the ground, "dying".

The next morning, me and the boys were in the bathroom. I was doing my hair, while Zack and Cody were arguing about Zack's armpit hair.

"It's there." Zack said. His shirt was half off and he was holding his arm up so Cody could see the non-existent armpit hair. Yeah, this is what I have to deal with everyday.

"No, it isn't." Cody said.

"Yes, it is. Right there, are you blind? You can totally feel it." Zack argued, running his hand over the skin. Cody reached out to feel it, only to have Zack yelp in pain.

"Ow! You pulled the skin!" He shrieked.

"That's 'cause there's no hair there!" Cody said in a 'duh' tone. "And no deodorant." He added, clearly getting a whiff of Zack's armpit stench. I rolled my eyes, as I finished braiding my hair and tied it, before turning around to see Mom at the door.

"Awh, you're looking for armpit hair." She cooed.

"Mom!" Zack and Cody groaned, as Zack put his shirt back on.

"My little boys are becoming little men." She said, "And you're becoming a little woman." She told me.

"You should really knock. We don't walk in on you." Cody said.

"Actually, you do. And you bring friends." Mom said, as we followed her into the living room. "We've gotta talk about last night. We do not want to repeat of the Dream Valley Lodge incident." She said, handing us our backpacks.

"I swear, I thought it was a black cat with a white stripe." Cody defended. I shuddered thinking of how Cody smelled like skunk for ages. I had to share a room with him!

"Here's a thought, what do you say we keep this job and get you a babysitter?" Mom said.

"Babysitter?!" Cody yelled.

"Wha- wait, you just said we were little men!" Zack protested.

"And I was a little woman!" I added.

"Okay, a little woman and men sitter." Mom said, "I was thinking maybe Maddie? Works at the sift shop, needs the money...just like us."

"Whoa, Maddie. Baby's got it goin' on!" Zack said, making a curvy shape with his hands. I rolled my eyes. Typical.

"She's got what going where?" Mom asked, giving Zack a look.

"I don't know what I'm saying." Zack said, looking as innocent as possible.

"Yeah, you better not." Mom said.

"He doesn't." Cody said, as Mom went over to the door.

"Yes I do!" Zack protested.

"No, you don't." I snorted.

"Yes I do!" Zack whined.

"Mr. Moseby, good morning, what a surprise." Mom said. I then noticed Moseby in the doorway. He immediately looked at us three.

"Good morning, Mr. Moseby." We said in perfect unison.

"What brings you up so early?" Mom asked him, tying the tie on her kimono, since she hadn't yet gotten dressed.

"Couldn't sleep." He explained, then looked directly at me and my brothers, "Nightmares." We just gave him innocent smiles. "Actually, I am here to discuss your bill." Moseby informed Mom, opening the file he was holding.

"What bill? Room and board are part of my bill." Mom said worriedly.

"Yes, only you have exceeded your first month's allowance by..." He handed Mom a piece of paper to let her see for herself. As soon as she saw the bill, her eyes widened, her jaw dropped and she legitimately stopped breathing.

"Breath! Breath, Mom, breath!" Cody said, and she finally let go of the breath she was holding.

"Oh my," Mom started, "Mr. Moseby, you can't be serious."

"I am powerless to be otherwise." Moseby answered. At that moment, a guy walked in wheeling a cart of food. It was the room service we'd ordered to apologise for the rollerblade incident last night. Perfect timing...Not.

"Room service! Somebody ordered the 'I'm-sorry-for-what-we-did-last-night' buffet." He said. Mom lifted one of the silver domes that was on top of the plates.

"Eggs Benedict with caviar?!" She asked in disbelief.

"Must be a mistake." Cody said.

"We ordered toast and a raisin." I lied, giving the room service guy a "go away" look.

"You guys are bleeding me dry here!" Mom exclaimed. The room service dude looked around and saw Mr. Moseby, suddenly realising the situation.

"Oh, my mistake. This was meant for the other Mommy with triplets on the 23rd floor." He said nervously, backing out of the suite.

"Uh, I-I'm sorry, I'm mean, they-" Mom tried to tell Mr. Moseby.

"I understand," Moseby cut her off, "Children sometimes can be a burden." Okay, that was just mean. We are not burdens! Are we?

"Oh, you have kids?" Mom asked.

"No, and after seeing yours, not gonna happen!" Moseby replied, before leaving. Mom looked at the bill.

"Video games, pay per view... You had your underwear dry-cleaned?" She asked us disbelievingly.

"Feels good!" Zack asked, as we all nodded.

"Sit." She ordered. We sat down on the coffee table, while Mom sat on the round cushion chair thing.

"Now, look, guys, we may live in a castle but we are not royalty." She said.

"I think you're a queen, Mommy." Zack said as cutely and innocently as possible. I rolled my eyes and almost gagged.

"Awh... Put a sock in it." She told him. "C'mon, guys, this is the best gig we've ever had and without it we're broke." She said, "With it, we're broke." She added, looking at the bill. "Don't you guys realise what a great opportunity this is for us?" She put her hand on my knee, "I don't have to go out on the road anymore. We can all be together."

"Yeah." Cody mumbled.

"I like it better here than at Grandma's." I admitted.

"Yeah! Last time, she dropped her false teeth in my chocolate milk!" Zack exclaimed. I shivered in disgust of the memory.

"I rest my case." Mom said, "So please, be good."

"We will." The three of us agreed.

When we got back to the hotel after school, we were greeted with a mob of paparazzi and had to push our way inside.

"Hey, come on!" Zack whined, shoving passed the men.

"We live here!" I exclaimed.

"I live here too!" One of the paparazzi said. Yeah, sure ya do, mate. Finally, we got inside.

"Hey, check it out! I found five bucks in my pocket!" Zack grinned, holding a five dollar bill.

"Those are my pants!" Cody said, frowning.

"Cool, candy's on you." Zack said.

"Let's hitch a ride." I said, as the luggage cart passed by. "Shotgun!" I yelled as we got on the luggage cart.

"Driver, to the candy counter." Zack told the bellboy.

"You got it." The bellboy said.

"Shouldn't we give this money to Mom?" Cody asked, as we got wheeled to the candy counter.

"Not until she learns to manage money better. We're broke!" Zack said as we jumped off the luggage cart, landing in front of the candy counter.

"Hey Maddie." I greeted as she turned around.

"I want two zababbabas, a sweetie tweetie and a seven foot licorice chain." Cody said.

"I see you're cutting down." Maddie said sarcastically. We all just smiled and nodded. "So guys, I've completely reorganized the candy display. Now, tell me, what draws your eye?" She asked, motioning towards the candy display.

"You do, sweet thang." Zack winked. I rolled my eyes and gave him a smack on the arm.

"Please, some of this candy is older than you." Maddie said. Zack frowned.

"Paparazzi!" I heard Moseby exclaim. I turned around and saw him walking out of the elevator, chasing one of the men with cameras. "I can smell them!" He said. The man snapped a photo of Moseby and the flash almost blinded him.

"What's going on here?" I asked, turning back to the counter.

"They're waiting for Bobby Carillo, centre fielder for the Sox, and Ursula, lingerie model." Maddie explained, holding up one of the gossip magazines, "They're getting married here this Saturday." Maddie handed us the magazine.

"Dude, he's the best player ever!" Cody exclaimed.

"And she's real good at what she does." Zack said, staring at the picture of Ursula. I rolled my eyes.

"Oh yeah. Takes real brains to sit on a horse in your underwear." Maddie said sarcastically. I giggled and high-fived her. Suddenly, the cameras started flashing like crazy. I turned around and saw Bobby and Ursula walk in. "I mean, what is the big deal?" Maddie asked, going back to reorganizing the candy display.

"Money, baby." The room service dude said, appearing out of nowhere. Seriously, where did he just come from?

"Tuck!" Maddie jumped and the candy in her hands came flying over the counter and landed behind us. "Hi!" She said. She clearly likes him. I mean, I guess he's cute, but not really my type...or age.

"What does he have that I don't have?" Zack complained.

"Armpit hair." I said, as the three of us started picking up the candy, and possibly hiding some up our sleeves as well...

Tuck walked up to the counter and rested the toilet plunger he was holding on it, "Word on the street is tabloids are paying $20,000 for a shot of the bride and groom's first kiss." He told Maddie. We were listening and froze.

"You are so plugged in." Maddie said dreamily. Oh please.

"This hotel doesn't run without me." Tuck boasted, trying to pull the toilet plunger off of the counter. I almost burst out laughing when it nearly hit him in the face.

"Are you guys thinking what I'm thinking?" Zack asked.

"Yeah!" Cody said, "What are you thinking...?" He asked. I rolled my eyes. Isn't he supposed to be the smart one?

"We can take a picture of the kiss and we'll be rich!" Zack exclaimed.

"And we can pay Mom back!" Cody said.

"And we'll be rich!" Zack repeated.

"And we won't be burdens anymore!" I smiled.

"And we'll be rich!" Zack repeated again.

"And whatever we have left, we can give to charity!" Cody said and I nodded.

"I swear, we're not related." Zack said to me and Cody, but mostly Cody. We picked up the rest of the candy and stood up.

"Maddie, I need a camera, and charge it, please." I said. She got a camera from under the counter and was about to give it to me, when she pulled it back.

"Candy." She ordered. We placed one candy bar each on the counter and Maddie gave us a look. We sighed and placed one more candy bar each on the counter. Maddie gave us a harder look. We sighed again, knowing we wouldn't get away with it, and put the rest of the candy on the counter. "Thank you." Maddie said smugly, finally handing me the camera. I looked at the camera and then at my brothers, who were both smiling, like me. We then started victory dancing.

"We're rich! We're rich! We're rich!" We sang in unison.

"Not quite! Not quite! Not quite!" Tuck mocked us. "No one is getting into that wedding without a printed invitation."

"I am." A voice said. We turned around and saw London, with a bellboy and luggage cart in tow, "Little me, back from Paris." She said in a French accent. She walked over. "Hello, Maddie."

"Hi, London." Maddie said with slight sarcasm.

"So, how are you getting into the wedding?" I asked London.

"My daddy owns the hotel, duh." She replied.

"Can you get us in?" Zack asked hopefully.

"Yes! But I'm not going to, duh." She said. I rolled my eyes, as she added, "I fly solo."

"Oh yeah, like the time you let yourself into that rockstar's room with the master key?" Maddie said.

"Johnny Rip thought it was endearing. He even wrote me." London said.

"That was a restraining order." Maddie interjected.

"Look, I'm going to that wedding, I'll be on the cover on this magazine, and you'll be selling it. Duh." London said, before walking away. Maddie rolled her eyes and went back to work.

"We're never gonna get in here!" Zack exclaimed as we peeked our heads into the ballroom, where the wedding would be held, "There's gonna be security at every door!" In case you hadn't figured it out already, we were trying to find a way to get in to take the $20,000 picture.

"And this is the ball room." We heard Mr. Moseby from down the hall. We made a run for it and hid behind the piano. "Which we will magically transform into your wedding chapel."

"Oh my," Ursula said in awe, "Where will Beyonce sing during the ceremony?"

"Copenhagen." Moseby answered bluntly, "Her tour has been extended. You know how the Danes like to get down." Moseby continued, then made a weird noise to go with a weird dance.

"I am sick of these divas." Bobby said, "Can't we just have a nobody singer who will actually show up?"

"We know a nobody singer!" Zack exclaimed, as we popped up from behind the piano.

"It's our Mom!" Cody said.

"She's a huge nobody!" I added, as we walked around the piano to stand in front of them.

"But I'm sure she's stretched way too thin with her show and policing you." Moseby said, glaring at us as he said the last bit.

"She can handle it." I said.

"C'mon, she's rehearsing now!" Cody said, as Zack grabbed Ursula's hand.

"You'll love her," Zack explained, as we pulled them out of the ballroom, "She's wears your underwear, but she looks a lot different." We took them to the lounge, where Mom was rehearsing one of her songs.

"She's great. She's great. Isn't she great?" Bobby said, as we all clapped for her.

"Yes, Ms. Martin's marvellous! Everything at the Tipton is marvellous!" Moseby said.

"Wow, I don't know how to thank you." Mom said.

"Thank your agents." Ursula said, looking at me, Zack and Cody. We smiled.

"Okay, let's get you two lovebirds out of here without causing a riot." Moseby said to Bobby and Ursula. As they left, me and the boys ran up to give Mom a hug.

"Oh, whatever you want, you got it." Mom said happily.

"Get us into the wedding." Zack requested.

"Except that." Mom said, her smile fading. The three of us frowned. "You're grounded, remember?"

"You meant that?" I asked, disappointed.

"I'm doing the right thing." Was her response, as she walked away.

"Okay," Zack turned to me and Cody, "We're just gonna have to find a way to get into that wedding ourselves."

"Forget it." I said, folding my arms.

"There is no way you're talking us into one of your idiotic schemes." Cody agreed.

"This is the last time I let you talk me into something like this." I pouted, as me and Zack stood by the air vent.

"No it's not." Zack just shook his head, smirking. He was probably right. Somewhere down the line, I'm guaranteed be in a situation like this once again, thanks to Zack.

"Mad Dog to Bird Dog and Kitty Cat." Cody's voice came through Zack's walkie-talkie.

"Kitty Cat? Really? That's the best name you could come up with for me?!" I complained, grabbing the walkie-talkie from Zack.

"Give me that!" Zack hissed, snatching it from me and speaking into it, "Affirmative, Mad Dog, we have located the mezzanine vent. Hopefully this one leads to the ballroom."

"It better. Because Mad Dog needs to find a fire hydrant, and quick." Cody replied. Me and Zack looked at each other and cringed.

"Roger. I'm sending down the probe." Zack said into the talkie.

"You mean the golf ball?" Cody asked cluelessly.

"Yes, the golf ball!" Zack replied, annoyed. He put the golf ball in the air vent and we waited to see if it reached the ballroom.

"Bingo! We found it, Bird Dog and Kitty Cat!" Cody said.

"Okay, now get out of there before Lard Butt Moseby sees you!" Zack said. It was silent for a second, until a different voice spoke through the walkie-talkie.

"Bird Dog, Kitty Cat? This is Lard Butt," Oh crap, "You do anything to disrupt this wedding, it will be the last song your mother ever sings at the Tipton. Over, and you're almost out."

On the night of the wedding, me and the boys were sat at the table in our suite, while Maddie helped us with our homework.

"No, a dromedary is not a play about milk." Maddie told a very clueless Zack, making me laugh. That's when Mom came out in a pretty, sparkly, gold dress.

"Tada!" Mom spread her arms out to showcase her dress, "Well, what do you think? And be brutal."

"Anyone looks at you and they think, twenty-five." I said.

"And?" Mom looked at Zack and Cody.

"And never had a kid." Zack said, as Cody nodded in agreement.

"Yes! I've trained them so well." Mom said to Maddie, who smiled and nodded. "Okay, you gonna stay in the room and do everything Maddie says?"

"Yep." Cody said.

"Mhm." Me and Zack said.

"Good." Mom said, then looked at Maddie, "Don't believe them." She told her. Me and the boys just grinned.

"Okay, guys, hey, triple kisses." Mom said, bending down to our height. 'Triple kisses' is when Zack and Cody stand on either side of Mom and kiss her cheeks, while I said in front of her and she kisses my cheek. "Goodbye, and goodnight!" Mom said, walking out the door, "Love you!"

"Love you." My brothers and I called in unison. We then looked at each other and nodded slightly, making sure Maddie didn't notice.

"Well, I'm gonna take my bath now." Zack announced, walking towards the bathroom.

"I'm going to brush my hair." I said, following him.

"And I'm going to brush my teeth, to prevent dental decay and-" Before Cody could finish his long winded explanation, I grabbed his arm and pulled him into the bathroom. "I just have one question about this; what if we get caught?" Cody asked, as he turned the bath on, so it sounds like Zack is actually taking a bath.

"Yeah, Moseby could fire Mom." I added, as Zack ripped off his sweatshirt and pants, leaving him in a tuxedo. How did he even wear all that clothing without sweating to death?

"Who cares? With twenty grand, we buy the hotel and fire Moseby!" Zack said excitedly. Me and Cody glanced at each other, then at Zack.

"Good point." We both said simultaneously.

"Now, I need exactly thirty-five minutes to get there, get the picture of the kiss and get back." Zack said.

"Right, you wanna synchronise watches?" Cody asked, holding up his watch.

"I don't have a watch." Zack said, slightly annoyed.

"Neither do I." I said.

"Then we won't do that." Cody said, putting his wrist down. Me and Cody snuck out of the bathroom and walked over to the window.

"Hey, look, you can see the celebrity guests arriving." I said, trying to get Maddie's attention.

"Or, you could just watch it here on TV." Maddie replied, not moving from the couch. I looked at Cody with a "do something!" look.

"Oh no, we're falling out the window." Cody yelled. Maddie got up from the couch and walked over. Bingo. While Maddie was distracted, I saw Zack run out of the bathroom and slip out the front door. Maddie suddenly grabbed our ears and pulled us over to the couch.

"Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow." Me and Cody whined. We watched the celebrities on TV for while, before realising it was way better to watch it in person, from the window. So, me and Cody walked back over to the window, with Maddie following.

"Hey, look, a stretch SUV limo." Cody said, pointing out the window.

"Oh yeah, way to waste our planet's natural resources, Mr. Six-Miles-Per-Gallon!" Maddie shouted out the window sarcastically. I walked over to the couch, passing the bathroom door on the way, only to realise there was water coming out from under the door.

"Uh oh." I muttered. "I think I gotta go to the bathroom. Cody, will you come with me?" I looked at Cody with a "get over here!" look. He obliged and walked over, his eyes widening when he saw the water seeping into the carpet.

"You guys go to the bathroom together?" Maddie asked, raising her eyebrows.

"Uh, yeah, we're triplets. We go everywhere together!" I said as if it were obvious. "Plus Zack's probably getting lonely in there." I added, pulling Cody into the bathroom with me. As soon as I walked in, I started slipping, and so did Cody.

"Whoa!" I yelled as we skidded across the bathroom floor and ended up falling on top of each other.

"Cody? Lola? You okay? I heard someone fall." We heard Maddie ask.

"Uh, that was Zack and Lola. Right guys?" Cody looked at me, as I turned the water off.

"Uh, yeah, that was us."

"We're not coordinated like Cody." Cody added, pretending to be Zack.

"Yeah, but luckily we're not stupid like him either." I said, giving Cody a smack in the arm. Cody yelped, as we grabbed some towels and got on the floor, trying to clean up the water.

"Guys, what's going on in there? Open this door." Maddie demanded from the other side of the door. Me and Cody looked at each other with slight panic, before we both opened the bathroom door to see Maddie. "I thought Zack was taking the bath." She said suspiciously. We both looked down at ourselves to see we'd gotten wet while cleaning the bathroom floor.

"Yeah...but he splashed us." I lied.

"Not nice Zack!" Cody called to "Zack".

"Let me talk to Zack." Maddie said.

"Okay." Cody said.

"You're the babysitter." I said with an attitude. Me and Cody went back into the bathroom, "She wants to talk to you, Zack." I told "him".

"Okay." Cody said, pretending to be Zack again. He took off his sweatshirt, put a shower cap on and opened the door, only peeking his head out since he was supposed to be naked, "Can you make this fast? There's a draft." Cody said when Maddie didn't say anything.

"Oh, is that right? Then I'll just talk to Cody and Lola." Maddie decided.

"You women and your moods." Cody sighed, closing the door. I gave him a glare, since he basically just insulted me. "She wants to talk to you two." He said as Zack, pulling his sweatshirt back on, "Okay, Zack... Thank you, Cody... You're welcome, Zack."

"Oh, would you just!" I hissed. This isn't the time for him to be having a conversation with himself!

"Okay, okay." Cody whispered, as we both left the bathroom to talk to Maddie again.

"Cody and Lola here." I smiled innocently.

"Your sweatshirt's on backwards." Maddie said to Cody, putting his hood up so it covered his face. I face palmed. Idiot!

"What's your point?" Cody asked, his voice slightly muffled. I rolled my eyes. He may be the smart one, but he's seriously stupid. Maddie barged into the bathroom, slipping on the water as she walked in.

"Where is he?!" Maddie demanded.

"We'll never rat him out!" Cody yelled.

"Not in a million years! Not in a billion years-" Maddie grabbed both our ears and it hurt so much, we had to talk, "He's in the air condition duct,"

"On the way to the wedding,"

"To get the picture of the $20,000 kiss." We took turns explaining. Maddie growled and walked out of the bathroom, pulling me and Cody with her by our ears.

"Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow."

Me and Cody were with Maddie somewhere in the air ducts, trying to find the ballroom.

"All I wanted to do was make a little extra money so I could buy myself a few nice things, because some of us have to work for a living and don't get sent to Paris as a punishment for breaking into Johnny Rip's room!" Maddie ranted, then stopped for a second, "Man, it stinks in here!"

"Sorry." Cody mumbled, crawling ahead of us. Okay, gross.

"Oh no, we're too late." Maddie said when we finally got to the ballroom. Me and Cody saw Zack hiding behind a plant, with his camera at the ready.

"Yes!" Me and Cody whispered. Maddie looked at us.

"I mean, darn!" I said and Cody nodded, as Maddie just rolled her eyes. I watched Zack lift the camera to his face, as Bobby and Ursula kissed. Awesome, we got the picture!

"Hey, that scum's got a camera!" The minister said. Spoke to soon... Security guards started running around and I thought they were gonna bust Zack, until they ran right passed him and chased some bellboy with a camera. Okay, so we did get the picture. Sweet!

"Hey, Zack, over here!" Maddie hissed. Zack got up and ran over. He looked up at us, since we were still in the air vent.

"What is she doing here?" Zack asked me and Cody.

"Saving your butt before I kick it!" Maddie replied harshly.

"Is that a threat or a promise?" Zack asked with a cheeky grin. I rolled my eyes and so did Maddie.

"Come on, stretch!" Maddie said, reaching her hand down to Zack.

"I can't reach you!" Zack said, trying to grab her hand. "London!" He called to London, who just happened to be passing by. "I need your help! Give me a boost, get down on all fours!"

"Like I'm sure. I wasn't even here." London scoffed.

"Take her picture!" I told Zack. Zack snapped London's picture.

"Now you were." Maddie smirked at the heiress.

"When I inherit this hotel, you're so fired!" London hissed, walking over, "And I'm kicking you out!" She told me. I just grinned.

"Oh, you'll be too busy getting facelifts!" Maddie replied. I giggled, as London got down on her hands and knees. Zack stood on London's back and we pulled him into the air duct.

We were still crawling through the air ducts, on our way back to our suite, and I was not looking for to see what Maddie what going to do to us.

"Okay, I've only babysat you guys for thirty minutes. What do you do now? Rob a casino?" Maddie asked sarcastically.

"Don't have to, we hit the jackpot tonight!" Zack exclaimed. We crawled around the corner, only to find Moseby waiting for us.

"Busted!" He yelled. The four of us screamed so loud, it could probably be heard throughout the whole hotel.

Moseby took us down to the lobby, where Mom was. Oh great. Mom was talking to Bobby and Ursula, when she saw us with Moseby.

"Ms. Martin, I found these little rugrats in our air conditioning vent." Moseby said, pushing us towards Mom.

"What?! Are you crazy?!" Mom yelled at us.

"Exactly, they could've damaged the vent!" Moseby said. Really, dude?

"They could've gotten hurt!" Mom said, glaring at Moseby. Then she glared at us, "What were you thinking? No, I'll tell you what you were thinking, you weren't thinking at all, that's what you were thinking!"

"You were glorious." The minister told Mom as he passed by.

"Thank you." Mom smiled, before she turned back to us to continue yelling, "Well?!"

"We wanted to hear you sing." I lied, sounding as innocent as possible.

"Then listen at the door when I'm in the shower." Mom said. Suddenly, some guy was escorted through the lobby by security guards.

"Oh, what happened? Must I be everywhere?" Moseby complained.

"Jerk photographer crashed the wedding." Mom said.

"Don't move." Moseby told Maddie, before running after the photographer.

"I hate those people." Mom said, "How could he do something like that?"

"Maybe he really needed the money?" Zack suggested.

"Because he loves his Mom." Cody added.

"I don't care what his reason is. It's a an invasion of privacy! Those people are just low-life, greedy scrum!" Mom said. Me and the boys looked at each other with guilt.

"This is for you." Zack said, reluctantly holding out the camera for Mom to take.

"We didn't sneak in the vent to hear you sing." I confessed, looking down with shame.

"We snuck into the air conditioning vent to take the $20,000 picture." Cody finished.

"What?!" Mom yelled.

"What?!" Moseby yelled.

"I am so fired." Maddie groaned.

"We wanted to pay you back." Zack explained.

"We wanted to stop being burdens." Cody continued. Mom glared at Moseby, since it was him who made us think we were burdens in the first place.

"Come here." Mom told us, leading us over to the couches in the middle of the lobby.

"I was trying to stop them." Maddie told Moseby.

"Better men than you have tried." Moseby said. Me and the boys sat on the couch, as Mom sat on the coffee table in front of us.

"You're not burdens, okay?" Mom began, "It's my job the make the money, not yours. Your job is to be the kids and have fun! And parents take care of children, children don't take care of parents. Even if they are becoming little men and women. Understand?"

"Yep." Zack said.

"Got it." I said.

"Sorry." Cody said.

"And maybe I did come on kinda strong about the whole 'being broke' thing. I really shouldn't have worried you like that. I was...w-wrong." Mom had a little trouble admitting she was wrong. Maybe that's where I get it from. Who am I kidding? I'm never wrong.

"So, what you're really saying is this is all your fault and we're not punished?" I asked, as me and the boys smiled hopefully.

"Nice try." Mom smiled, but it wasn't a good smile, "Yeah, you're grounded for another week."

"When you say grounded..." I trailed off.

"On the twenty-third floor." Mom said clearly.

"Race ya up stairs!" Zack said to me and Cody.

"Go!" Me and Cody yelled in unison.

"Hey, don't run! Don't run! Look out!" Mom yelled after us. We ignored her, only to run into that guy in the jumpsuit and fall into the coffee table, knocking off the expensive vase on top. The vase fell and almost hit the floor, when Moseby leaped forward and caught it. Well, today has been eventful...


End file.
